KotOR Misadventures
by Some Random
Summary: There are normal days, there are crazy days. And then there's waking up on Taris with no idea how I got there, why and what to do about it. That just takes the whole crazy cake. Self insert, inspired by CpunchMaster. Also contains spoilers
1. Chapter 1

**Some Random: What can I say, there's been a little bit of self-inserting going on here for KotOR and I got inspired to have a crack at it myself. As said in the summary, ****CpunchMaster ****and MandaloreTheUltimate947 ****is where the inspiration came from, so kudos to you guys for starting the train rolling in my little brain. **

**And besides, can't let the boys have all the fun, right? :P ****Title kinda sucks I know, I might think of something a bit better later, who knows. ****Really this first chapter is a test to see if I do any good. So, here goes!**

**-()-**

**KotOR Misadventures**

Chapter One - The Insanity Begins...

"Gosh darn it!" I nearly flung the controller away in sheer frustration. "And I was so close too! Damn challenge, why does thee berate me so?"

Stretching out in my chair, I stared ahead at the TV, currently displaying the challenge screen for Force Unleashed 2, and then yawned. As games go it's not bad, but short, even if now I was only persevering with it for the sake of achievements/extras. Joys of an Xbox 360.

'_Two challenges left to finish on Gold for that achievement, though at this rate that's gonna take forever. Maybe I should have played AC: Brotherhood instead...'_

I sighed, putting the controller down and taking a peek outside. Still raining on and off, even though I couldn't see it well, I could certainly hear it.

'_You'd think after that flood, we'd be able to have a break from the wet weather, but it seems Mother Nature isn't done yet...'_

At least it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier on, where I couldn't even get out the front door without getting wet. Okay, slight exaggeration but if it's bad enough that half of Brisbane or so got flooded and all that, well, I can say my front yard technically became a swamp all I like.

I sighed again for good measure, blowing a few stray strands of hair out of my face. Feeling somewhat unenthused towards continuing to attempt those challenges, I contemplated on what to play next.

'_Face it girl, you've finished half the games you've got anyway, half of them you're only replaying cause they were worth it or only for achievements.'_

I looked over at my poor little computer, doing little more then playing some of my music through Media Player. Maybe I could play something on that? Though the graphics card was weirding out on me so I couldn't play half the games I'd want to.

'_Though it wouldn't be too bad to play one of those old Tomb Raiders, just for kicks, with all that cheating I'm doing. Or one of the KotOR's, well, the one that works at the moment. Haven't played them in ages.'_

I smirked to myself, thinking of Tomb Raider and blowing up squarish, pixellated, monkeys with a rocket launcher. Strange sounding I know and quite frankly overkill, but why cheat and not have fun at the same time? Defeats the purpose of cheating in the first place if you don't do something for kicks, in my opinion.

Turning off the Xbox, I stood, stretched and was just about to walk over to my computer when I heard something. Just. It had been so darn quiet I was certain I was hallucinating things, until I heard it again.

'_What the hell?'_ I didn't dare say that out loud, in case whatever it was sounded off again and I missed it. And...yep, there it goes again. Guess I'm not hallucinating. It wasn't a sound like I thought, more of a whisper. A thready whisper, barely audible. Pausing my music, I listened for it again, determined to find out just what was going on.

"_...dark..."_

Ah ha! There! I turned around, listening for it come again.

"_...hide...dark...tainted..."_

Hm, well that was weird. I moved carefully forward, and hearing the whispers get slightly louder, decided to keep going. One step at a time.

"_...can hide...dark...but...tainted..."_

"Whatever this is, it doesn't make any sense..." I muttered, moving from the front room into my bedroom.

"_...can hide...dark...but...tainted...life..."_

The sound seemed to be coming from my room and I moved to take a step forward before I stopped myself.

'_Wait just one little minute there missy...'_

The voices, cause there was more then one whispering this weird shit, almost seemed to _want_ me to walk into my room. And that had a cold shiver running down my spine.

'_I've either been playing __**way**__ too much Fable 3, or this is something creepy beyond measure...'_

I stood still in the doorway, just waiting and listening, hearing the voices continue whispering.

'_When you think about it, it's almost like...almost like they're not in just in front of me but...' _

The lights shorted out just as I turned to walk out of the doorway, facing back into the front room.

"Crap." I swore under my breath.

"_You will walk...can hide from the dark...but...tainted...life..."_

"Double crap." The voices were louder and I felt my heart rate pick up. Even the hairs on my arms were standing on end but I didn't need that to tell me something wasn't right. I just knew.

'_Really starting to get a Crawler and the Children type feel outta this right now...'_

I ran my tongue over my dry lips, backing up slowly and trying to see through the dark. By now it didn't matter which way I went, whatever it was in here had me now.

'_Fan-fucking-tastic...and what the hell was that!' _Something had brushed against my back in the dark and I went extremely still, the only sounds in the room my breathing and the insistent whispering voices.

"_You will walk with us...can hide from the dark, slave but...tainted...life..."_

My fists clenched. _'This isn't happening...this isn't happening...this __**isn't**__happening...' _

Unfortunately for me, in the dark you can't see any of the random stuff I have scattered on the floor in my bedroom. Meaning one minute I'm more scared then I've ever been before, taking one last retreating step and the next my foot catches on something lying on the floor, leaving me airborne. Last thing I feel is said floor and everything goes black.

Sorry, black**er**.

**-()-**

'_Ouch, my freakin' head. If I wake up on some slab in some kind of lab then this is seriously going to be a Chronicles-esque dream sequence and I'm Gabriella...aw man...'_

Slab might not be far off, as whatever I was lying on was both hard and cold. And that just sounds wrong now that I think about it.

'_Couldn't just pass out on carpet now could I? Nice, soft, comfortable carpet...but __**noooooo**__...'_

My eyes flickered open, only to be greeted with not the slab in my imagination but a...metal floor?

"Eh?"

Sitting up slowly, with some degree of head spinning, I wasn't all that surprised to find I had no idea where I was (some corridor?) and it certainly wasn't Kansas anymore. Er, Australia. As far as unconscious hallucinations go, this one wasn't being very interesting so far. Unless this is one of those creepy ones and an army of zombies are going to come shambling around the corner...on second thought, I'm happy with how things are.

Having come to such conclusions it seemed the best thing to do would be...well, find out just where here was and what the hell was going on. Oh, and not run into any zombies.

'_Smartest move you've made yet, girl. Play along until we wake up, good plan.' _I mean, I was going to wake up at some point, right?

"Hey kid!" A gruff (well, pensioner sounding gruff I guess) voice grumbled loudly at me and I looked up to see who it was. Surprise, surprise, it was a somewhat grumpy looking old man holding what looked like a broom.

'_The cleaner?'_

"Stop lazing about on the floor, I just cleaned them ya know!" he snapped and I frowned.

'_Yup, definitely the cleaner.'_

"Oi I'll pass out and wake up where I bloody well like old man." I grumbled, "And I was just about to move too!" Okay, that last bit was kinda a lie. Moving was next on the agenda once I could look at the room without it being a little wavy. Though, things were getting better.

He didn't look pleased with my back chatting. "Kids these days! No manners, just like them darn Sith!"

I'd just opened my mouth to complain that a nineteen turning twenty (somewhere along the line) year old like myself could hardly be a "kid" when the last word registered.

'_Sith? What the hell? Did I hit my head harder then I thought?'_

"Sith?" I echoed, dumbstruck.

"You're an offworlder, I can tell just by lookin' at ya. But even you'd have to know Taris is under Sith quarantine.'

"Taris? Sith quarantine?" I'll admit I probably sounded like a total idiot but the whole thing was unbelievable. I mean, Taris? From the 1st KotOR, gets blown up by Malak, Taris? You had to be kidding me.

The old cleaner was looking at me like I'd been dropped on the head as a child. Of course, the goldfish imitation I'd adopted after that last line of his _probably_ didn't help.

'_Great, now he figures I'm some kind of simpleton. Smooth...'_

Clearing my throat, I pulled a more serious expression. If this situation was as crazy as I thought it was, I didn't need to add to it with my own brand of stupidity.

"Sorry, memory can be a little strange sometimes, you know how it is. Where are we again and what's this about Sith quarantine?"

'_I can't believe I just said that...'_

Thankfully, now he seemed to take me a little more seriously. Even if it was only a little.

"You're stuck on Taris like the rest of the offworlders kid." He said. I stopped myself from scowling, barely. "Quarantined the whole planet they did. No one comes or goes without Sith say so these days."

'_Not __**strictly**__true, an amnesiac Revan manages to find their way off just fine...' _I kept those musing to myself. "Right..."

"Bein' an offworlder though, you should already know that."

I tried my best not to look too sheepish. "Heh, right. _Any_way, it's been great talking, but I gotta skedaddle." I clambered to my feet, trying not to sway too much from standing up so fast.

"And I gotta clean that section of floor again..." Was he glaring at me? Was he _glaring_ at me? Geez! It's not like I **chose** to pass out there old man!

"Eh he, he..." I smiled sheepishly. "See ya."

And left it at that.

**-()-**

The door hissed open, but my mind was too busy wandering to take much notice of the automatic doors and I headed out onto the street.

'_This can't be right.'_ I thought, wandering aimlessly. _'There's simply no way I can be on Taris. It's just not possible.'_

Then again, the whole passing out/hallucination thing did lead credit to the idea that I was simply imagining all of this, half-conscious on my bedroom floor.

'_Reminds me too much of that show I once watched, about the guy in a coma that get transported to the 80's or something. Life on Mars, I think it was called...'_

But I wasn't in a coma, or even dying like what happened to that chick in the sequel Ashes to Ashes. I was just unconscious. Or at least I thought I was.

'_What if...What if those weird voices had anything to do with this? Like the blackout bit was triggered by some weird supernatural force while it whispers nothings to me and knocking myself out by being a clutz was actually the means of transporting me here? I've read fanfics that made less sense plot wise then that.'_

I stopped and looked at my hand, an idea occurring to me.

'_Let's see, in the movies when a weird situation like this occurs, the heroine usually pinches herself to see if it's a dream. Not that I believe everything in movies is true, cause it ain't, but it's the only thing I can think of right now.'_ I stared at my hand a little more. _'Although...pinching never seems to work, so what if I go one step further?'_

That was it. But I'd have to do it quickly otherwise I'd wimp out and it wouldn't work. Which also meant I couldn't brace myself, it had to be spontaneous. Right.

I lowered my hand and took a cursory look at my surroundings, taking in the city around me. Half of me was almost tempted to walk up to someone and poke them to see if they'd just dissolve into pixels. A very strange half of me I'll admit, but half of me none the less. The buildings, while like out of the game, seemed bigger and much more detailed. And I didn't remember there being that many of them. Or that many people out on the street either.

'_Looks real enough, but you can never tell.'_

Tilting my head slightly, I watched people mill past, a few seconds of almost silence passing before...

"Ow!"

...I slapped myself in the face.

"Aw geez...**owww**..." I rubbed my cheek. "That stung more then expected."

Everything else, however, remained the same. Well, there were a few bystanders looking at me strangely but apart from that I was (apparently) still on Taris.

"Okay, that didn't work..." I muttered, cheek still stinging from the slap. "Which means this calls for a Plan B..."

But, surprise surprise, I didn't have one. Well, apart from hunting for Revan, his/her fake identity not with standing, and getting the hell off of Taris before Malak blows it to pieces. Dream sequence or no dream sequence, I'm not dying either way.

Problem was, I had no idea where to start.

'_Crap.'_

**-()-**

**Some Random: And I think I'll end it there. Don't know how good it is and I keep feeling all paranoid that I'm copying someone, which just makes it all worse. Just so you know, the "Chronicles" mentioned is **_**Chronicles of Eternal War**_** a non-fandom story of my own that I'm in the middle of writing so it's **_**perfectly**_** normal to not understand that. For disclaimer sakes, I pretty much don't own squat in this, except for myself. And by the way, I'm not that much of a total spaz, I just spiced it up for the humour benefits. Our dear protagonist does calm down, don't worry.**

**Favourites and alerts are just as good, but reviews take the cake for dispelling my avid procrastination. Reviews spur on more chapters, especially good reviews, so if you want more misadventures, hop to it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Some Random: I just realised that in last chapter I didn't even point out the name of our dear protagonist, so I shall try make amends to that this time round. Ooh, and a big thank you to all my lovely reviewers for their feedback, can't forget that!**

**Once again, I don't own KotOR, that's property Bioware and LucasArts. I do, however, own myself as strange as that may seem...**

**-()-**

Chapter Two - What Now?

'_You know, I really need to work out a better plan then that last one. What was I even thinking? How the hell is slapping yourself a way to stop a hallucination/dream sequence? Idiot!'_

I continued wandering quite aimlessly along the street, mentally berating myself as I took in the scenery. I'd been doing this for a bit now, still quite plan-less.

'_Where the hell is an empty bench in this damn city? Empty bench = place to sit = somewhere I can take some time to think this shit over. How hard is that to accomplish?' _So far most of the ones I'd passed were taken up by some rich snob or other that looked down their nose at me as I walked past. I was 85% sure they were rich...this was the Upper City right? All those that actually have money lived up here, as opposed to the outcasts in the Under City and all the thugs, gangs and whoever's left down in the Lower City. Oh and the Upper City was full of snobbish humans that hated aliens, can't forget that.

Of course, half the looks I was getting could quite possibly be from my little slapping incident. Or my clothes. They had a bit of clothing fetish up here, if I remember right, and I don't think that wearing skinny jeans, a singlet with a cotton, red and black check shirt over the top, (left open at the front so the singlet showed) and boots were in this season on Taris. Man, for a joke that was lame. Call me weird for wearing jeans when it's summer back home, but the night I'd been mystically transported to Taris had been colder then usual, which can happen with some serious rain.

Stopping, I ran a hand through my unruly hair and looked over at my reflection on the side of one of those shiny buildings. The scale of just what was going on was yet to fully hit me, my mind still trying to pass this whole thing off as some kind of crazy hallucination. Nobody, and I mean nobody, goes through shit like this in real life. I suppose you could call that my defence mechanism, coping with this whole business through convincing myself it all wasn't real. It was still on the forefront of my thinking that I'd just wake up suddenly and be back on my bedroom floor, staring at the ceiling and wondering just what I was thinking imagining voices at night alone.

I know I'm spinning all this out and probably rambling like crazy but everything was just so...surreal. I could feel a damn breeze here in the Upper City and I knew the street was solid beneath my feet. But even dreams feel real, that I know for a fact. And standing here, having some deranged staring contest with my reflection was not helping anything.

'_A plan girly. You need a plan, considering at the current moment you have nothing.'_ Well, that wasn't entirely true. I had the semblance of a plan in my little brain. Mostly find "Revan" and get the hell outta here.

'_Think, Jess, think! Don't just stand there and become preoccupied with that slap mark on your face!' _Speaking of slap marks, it wasn't that bad, only a slight redness that was fading quite quickly. No, stop sidetracking, just think.

First things first: find Revan/whoever he or she is called. While that sounded easy enough, I didn't know where to start looking, or even who I was looking for. They could be already half-way through the Under City, in the Vulkar base already...anywhere really.

'_Pessimism is __**not**__ helping.' _ Okay. Finding a way down to the Lower City would be a good step, that way I'll be able to at least catch up whether they've just headed down to the Under City or whether they're already at the Hidden Bek base readying for the swoop race. Either way, going there had more chance of a random encounter with just the people I needed to find then standing around up here.

'_That sounds like the makings of a plan to me.'_

With that thought in mind, I set about exploring. Figured that would be the best chance of hunting down the means to the Lower City.

**-()-**

'_Great, this is nowhere near the cantina. In fact, if this is anything like the game map, this place is on the entire opposite side to the cantina.'_ I mentally grumbled, looking down the corridor ahead of me. Seems all that aimless wandering I'd done earlier had done nothing but point in the one direction I shouldn't have been heading in and leaving me...well, not lost exactly. More misplaced.

'_Face it, you're lost. If you'd headed the other way, you would have found the cantina and everyone knows that in the cantina you can run into an off-duty Sith, can get an invite to a party and then steal uniforms when they all pass out. But __**nooo**__, we just had to go in the complete __**other**__ direction.'_

Frankly annoyed with my own pessimism, I shoved my hands into my pockets and grudgingly headed back to the entrance of the building I'd entered. It was another apartment block like the one I'd woken up in, except without the grumpy cleaner. I hadn't even meant to enter it in the first place; the whole city was so big I'd stumbled inside without realising.

'_Look on the bright side. There's no guarantee the whole party plotline thing would have worked anyway. Big, bad Revan and Carth could have already done that already, thus leaving you no window of opportunity...'_

Caught up in my thoughts, I wasn't looking where I was going and it wasn't long before I ran into somebody walking in the opposite direction. Talk about obstacles.

"Geez! Watch where you're going arseho...eh, he, he..." My complaint trailed off as I looked up and an incredibly sheepish look came to my face.

'_Crap.' _The "obstacle" was a Sith soldier. I recognised that shiny, silver and black uniform.

'_There are times I feel like an idiot, and there are times I feel like a __**complete**__ idiot. This would definitely be one of the latter...'_

"Eh, he...hi?" I half-squeaked, a little nervous over almost insulting a member of the current ruling power on the planet. Not being able to see his face made things worse. Or her. The helmet obscured everything, so there was no way to tell. And the way his hand hovered comfortably over the holster on his belt wasn't helping with the image either.

'_Chances are they'll just be a total arse to you and then walk off, not kill you so being nervous probably isn't entirely necessary. I mean they're bad, but they can't be __**that**__ bad...'_

"I'm a...what?" he (voice confirmed it) sneered. Though with the sound filtering through the helmet, it was bloody hard.

"Victim of misunderstanding?"

My eyes widened as he grabbed me by the front of my shirt and dragged me up close. It didn't stop me from opening my big mouth again. "Oh come on! Grab my shirt somewhere else, you're practically groping me!" Understandably, if I'd actually been wearing a t-shirt he probably would have grabbed me by the collar. As it stood, we already know I was wearing a singlet and his hand was practically in between my boobs. Hence, the complaining.

"What was that whelp?" He pulled me closer so we were face to face. Well, face to visor. "Aren't you going to apologise?"

Being this close to that silver/gold(ish) visor was actually quite creepy. In the game, you never saw these guys that close and there was always a nice screen separating you from them anyway.

'_We don't even know for sure if things are even like the game yet, or that any of this is real. Unconscious reality, remember?'_

I expected some snarky, rude comment or two from the Sith bloke, but not all this man handling.

'_It's intimidation you moron.'_

Plus, I hadn't actually called him anything...I'd been **about** to.

'_This isn't real girl, so it doesn't matter. And if it isn't real, you aren't here right now, being handled inappropriately by a Sith soldier.'_

"For what? I didn't actually do anything!" Nobody said I was the smartest girl on the block, but frankly I was being a bit of a smartass because: a) I tend to say stupid things when stuck in an unfriendly/nervous situation and b) I was still convinced none of this was real.

'_This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't re...'_

"Ah!"

My back hit the wall and a pained hiss escaped me, my hand clutching where he'd just hit me.

'_That son of bitch just hit me! He freakin' hit me! Right in the ribs too!' _My thoughts were more eloquent then I was at that moment, more concerned with whether someone could break your ribs by punching them. That had been one serious blow. I was still shaking badly from the shock.

"Maybe you'll think twice next time before you back chat one of the Sith." He sneered, giving me an idle and not quite appropriate once over.

'_Great, he hits me __**then**__ checks me out. Problem with being female in a bad situation. I knew the Sith were arseholes but come on! This is overkill people!'_

I barely knew what to think of the whole thing. Catapulted far from home for some odd reason only to get assaulted by some dude from a computer game for _almost_ calling him an arsehole? Sounds like a bad fanfic to me.

"So a little back-chatting gives you right to assault someone, hey arsehole?" Oops, scratch that.

He backhanded me hard enough I'm sure my lower lip split. That coppery taste in my mouth **had** to be blood. It's fair to say I brought that one on myself. The force of the blow sent me sprawling unceremoniously onto the floor, landing heavily onto my injured side. If I thought I was shaking badly before, it was worse now. I could feel my eyes burning with unshed tears, and I'll be damned before I start crying in front of someone that used to be nothing more then pixels, no matter if the fact crying even came up makes me seem a little wimpy. I've never really been hit by somebody in my life, not like this. A few playful slaps from the girls, little more.

'_You're lucky he hasn't killed you. Remember what that officer did to that Duros guy that back-chatted him in the game? Be glad that wasn't you.'_

He crouched down near me, probably smirking behind that visor, the smug bastard.

"_Try saying that one out loud, I dare you." _A bitter little voice whispered in the back of my head. _"But you know what will happen and you're scared." _I didn't even consider opening my mouth again, these guys are more threatening when they're flesh and blood and can beat the crap out of you.

"Well?" he drawled. "Don't you have something to say to me?" His heavy blaster pistol rested against my thigh, a deadly reminder he was armed.

I swallowed, ignoring the pain in my lip as best I could. "S...Sorry?" _'Now he goes "Apology accepted" or whatever in a Sith-ish manner and we all go...'_

Another slap across the face, my hair spilling across my face as my head turned from the blow. I could feel the split in my lower lip now, and maybe even one shallower one on the upper.

'_What the fuck?'_

"Sorry _sir._ And speak up, wench, I can't hear you." Oh he was enjoying this, I could hear it in his voice. The sick prick was enjoying every minute of this. And as scared as I was, his tone was really pissing me off.

The blaster tapped against my leg. "Come on. I'm waiting."

I stared at his visor, seeing my reflection in it. My green-hazel eyes stared back at me, wide, scared and somewhat bloodshot from my near crying. I barely thought through my next move, of the consequences, I just acted.

He never saw it coming, staring so intently at my face, and my other leg kicked him straight in the side of the head, with all the force I could muster. There was a clunk as he hit where the floor connected with the wall.

A tense almost silence filled the gap, the only sound I could hear being my ragged breathing and the pounding of my heart in my ears. All I could do was stare at him, lying there.

'_Shit, shit, shit! Run while you still can, cause when he wakes up you're dead!' _

He wasn't moving, why wasn't he moving? Oh God, I didn't...I haven't...killed him, have I? The rhythm of my heart punctuated the silence of my thoughts. One heartbeat, two. Another two. He still wasn't moving. I moved then, close to where he lay and one hand, shaking as it reached out, touched him. Nothing.

'_Don't freak out, don't freak out...' _I ran my tongue over my lips, brushing over the tiny cuts in them. It wasn't...I couldn't...this...this was unreal.

'_I just probably killed somebody...no, no, he's probably just unconscious but still. Holy (censored) on a (censored) sandwich...'_

Shock notwithstanding, though my mind was reeling from all that had just happened, it almost delighted upon an opportunity when it saw one. I had inadvertently been gifted a Sith uniform, a heavy blaster pistol and perhaps whatever else this guy carried on him. As far as achievements go, that was top of my list for today.

Shakily getting to my feet, I took a good look at the unconscious soldier, who didn't seem all that much taller then me actually. The uniform would probably fit, though I wasn't 100% certain on the chest piece. Being without the manly chest the soldier had, some adjustments would have to be made on my part so it fit my much more feminine form.

'_If this thing is standard then that says a lot about the breast size of female Sith...and I'm not even well endowed like some people I used to know.'_

But first, I had to move the body, in case one his fellows decided to turn up. And that wouldn't turn out well at all. Bending down, I slid my arms underneath his and hoisted him up as far as I could. Which wasn't far at all really.

'_Man talk about dead weight...this guy weighs a ton!' _Not strictly true, but I was liable to complain regardless. I had to drag the guy down the corridor after all. Stopping in front of the nearest apartment entrance, I slid one of my arms out and waved a hand in front of the door, praying it was empty.'

'_Oh thank God...'_

Dragging in and dumping my cargo inside, I collapsed onto the only bed right after the door closed, sore and frankly worn out. My left ribs were aching like crazy and the right side of my face stung more then it had when I'd slapped myself earlier on. But staring up at the ceiling I realised one thing: I couldn't waste time lying around. Not just because of the deadline of impending doom, but I knew that if I stopped doing something, my rational self would catch up to the days events and I would simply break down then and there. Occupying yourself with something not to think about it is a better way of coping then curling up in a ball, crying and muttering to yourself in my book.

This was real, there was no way I couldn't push things aside now. This had to be real. My aching ribs were testament to that.

With all that in mind, I sat up.

My priorities were pretty straight forward, especially after I scoped out the uniform. Frankly, I wasn't game to investigate why the black leggings and skivvy type shirt parts of it smelt like they did, so as soon as I worked out the contents of the refresher, I gave them a good rinse and set them out to dry. Assessing injuries came next, as it's really hard to get medical assistance if you're broke. Try impossible. I hadn't even checked to see if my meal ticket had any credits on him yet. Thankfully, my ribs weren't broken like I'd feared, but a nasty bruise was blossoming which might cause some trouble.

That accomplished, I turned back to stripping Sith soldier boy of all he owned that was of use. The guilty nudge to my conscience didn't help with the task, even though I knew it was a necessary evil. It was even worse when I realised my attacker was really no older then I was. My fingers kept rubbing against my palms as I worked making me stop every so often as I took first the strange bag like thing on his back, then the armour/uniform, the heavy blaster, and the most important find of all, his pass card for the elevator to the Lower City. The bag was the interesting though, it looked a lot like the one Desmond carries in AC: Brotherhood, on his back strapped across the shoulder. Looting through that proved useful, leaving me broke no more.

'_Someone say, jackpot?' _My lips curved into a small smile. Sitting back, I looked through all I'd gathered and came to the conclusion that I'd come off pretty good.

'_Access to the elevator, a weapon, and cash. One up from nothing. Still need to find a way to fit that chest piece better though...'_

I had an idea for that, but it relied upon me actually being able to find what I needed and him not waking up before I got back. Then again...

**-()-**

'_Wow, I really shouldn't have underestimated this place. Who knew how easy it was to find bindings on Taris?'_

Back in the 'fresher room, I hung my shirt on a rail and stripped off my singlet.

'_I mean, I'd have no idea where to look for anything like this back home yet here I can find exactly what I'm looking for. Hm, maybe there's more use for such things in this universe?'_

Unfortunately, I didn't have the answer, and I wasn't about to waste my time now finding it. I was using it figuring out how to bind my breasts properly. It took me a few minutes to finally get it right, before I was staring at my bra wondering what to do with it now. In fact, wondering what to do with all my clothes once I was done changing into the uniform. While it had occurred to me that they weren't the best for blending in, the Sith uniform was going to lose it's usefulness a lot faster and I was going to need something to wear once I was done with it.

'_You know, maybe we should have spent that money a lot more wisely and found a set of normal armour instead of other things...' _I will admit that the bindings were not all I'd bought in my visit back on the streets...

'_Aw, come on. You really think you could have passed off that beauty? The delicate, sharp edge, the way the light reflected off the blade.'_

...I'd also bought a sword. A good quality sword, cortosis weaving and all that, so it wasn't a total waste.

'_Mind off your obsession for close combat weaponry and back to the task at hand sweetheart...'_

Right. Dressing. I can't stand around gawking at my new found flat chested-ness all day. Suiting up, I spared a thought to the young man that had "gifted" all this stuff to me, tucked away inside what I believed was a closet. Really only that he was going to be mighty pissed off to wake up in his underwear in a closet, stripped of all he owned. Slipping my rings off, I tucked them and my wrist bands securely into the bag along with my clothes, my phone and my mp3 (which had been in my pockets and were luckily not damaged in any way). It was freaky, stashing away everything on me from home, but I tried not to think much about it. I was going to find a way back, it was just a matter of time, right? Strapping on the pack, I pulled my hair back into a low ponytail and tugged my bangs behind me ears as it was the only way I was going to fit the helmet on without involving a haircut. And trust me, I wasn't about to lose either my hair length or my lovely long fringe for the sake of wearing some ridiculous helmet.

The heavy blaster fit snugly into its holster and my new shiny sword strapped on nicely. All that was left now was that darn helmet. My hands hovered over it, hesitating. Putting that one meant going on with the plan, strutting out dressed as a Sith and hopefully taking that elevator. It also meant leaving the relative safety of the Upper City with all it's Sith soldiers and snobby folk for the chaos of the Lower City and then the dark, rakghoul infested plains of the Under City. My life in the balance at every turn, where I'd probably actually have to fight something with weapons I had no idea how to properly use.

'_But if you stay up here, you'll die with the rest of the planet when Malak bombs the place to hell and back.'_

And that, if anything, warranted throwing myself in harms way to get away. I'd rather die trying to stay alive then sitting around. Monologue done, I slipped on the helmet and headed out the door.

**-()-**

Donning the uniform and convincing myself to get going or die was just the start. Strolling down the streets armed and dressed as a Sith was another story. I'm just glad I took that other trip out, otherwise I just know I would have just gotten myself lost again. The difference in how people treated me in the uniform took some adjusting. No wonder ol' Sith boy was so smug, these guys can walk down the street and people turn the other cheek. Though I was still being stared at by some, only for an entirely different reason.

The guard to the elevator straightened up as I approached and hidden behind the helmet visor, I smirked.

"Pass." He snapped, not missing a beat even though I'd almost caught him slacking off.

Pulling out my good Sith "buddy"'s pass card, I flashed it at the guard. There was a few minutes silence as he looked it over and then at me before waving open the door to the elevator. I will admit it felt like a very long few minutes and I had been holding my breath through it.

"You're clear." He said. "Just watch the gang miscreants down there. Rumour has it they've been taking pot shots at us now."

I remembered the warning, though worded differently, from the game and nodded. It was true, I remember keeping the uniform on one time I played and the first bunch of Vulkars doesn't give a damn that you look like a Sith. In fact, they probably were even **more** provoked to violence by the sight.

Stepping into the elevator, the butterflies started up in my stomach as the door closed and it made it's descent to the Lower City. I tried not to flinch at the creaking I could hear on the way down, certain I could spot a camera in the corner. At least that's what I thought it was. Sith don't flinch at simple creaking-sounding-like-one-day-it'll-break-on-someone elevators. It didn't stop me from fidgeting, however, shifting impatiently from one foot to the other. This elevator ride sure was long, and doing serious things to my nerves.

'_What I wouldn't give for a loading screen right now...'_

To get my mind off things, I wondered if it would ding when it reached it's only stop, thinking of home.

"_Ah, the wait it over...soon, soon..."_

A shiver went down my spine. I didn't just hear what I thought I heard, right?

"_Soon...and then it begins...the path is set..."_

'_Not again.'_

But as suddenly as they started, the voices stopped and the elevator ground to a halt.

I stumbled out after the doors hissed open, feeling shaken. It had been the same whispering voices from before I'd wound up here, the ones that made no sense. The message had been different this time. _The wait is over. Soon. And then it begins. The path is set._

'_What the hell does all this mean?'_

Shaking my head, I tried to focus on the present objective. Picking up "Revan" and Carth's trail. But first, time for a wardrobe change.

Pulling off the helmet, I jumped when my fingers touched something and the whole thing compacted up into a twisted metallic disk, leaving my stunned and doing little more then blinking.

'_Guess that's one way to help store the thing.'_

Staring at what used to be the helmet in my hand, I went through my options regarding the uniform.

1: Trash the thing after finding somewhere to change. While do-able, it wasn't the smartest move, I didn't have anything alternative armour wise.

2: Make do with what I had, though with some handy changes.

'_Why was the other option there when you were going to do this one anyway?'_ I sighed, shaking my head and a few strands of hair came free from behind one of my ears. Tucking it back, I took off my new pack and dragged out my shirt, a sound plan in mind.

Freeing the bulkier armour plates from the skivvy top of the uniform and some other pieces, I slipped my old shirt back on over the top. With some fiddling, I managed to get the shoulder pads back on, and then some of the lighter, easier to fit under chest pieces before doing up my shirt, leaving the top two buttons open. The only obvious bits left of the Sith armour were the boots, gauntlets and the leggings with their armour cladding. Other then that, you could think I was a merc with new shiny armour. There was a somewhat cleaner section of the metal wall nearby and I used that to get a good look at myself.

Flat chested and with my hair tied back, in my new outfit I looked more like a guy then my own sex. Well, a somewhat effeminate looking one, but a guy nonetheless.

'_Hm, this could maybe work to my advantage. Maybe people will take me a little more seriously...'_

For old time's sake, I freed one section of my bangs from the left side of my face, partly obscuring one of my eyes. Mission accomplished, I set out on my way.

Though try as I might, I couldn't shake the creepy feeling the reappearance of the voices had left me with, that had had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Something told me I wasn't done with them, not yet anyway.

"_You will walk our path...the darkness will come...it will return..."_

**-()-**

**Some Random: A lot longer chapter this time round, and now we're finally getting somewhere. The "Holy (censored) on a (censored) sandwich" line is the only one with the (censored) bit in it because I actually don't know what swear word the original quote (from Yugioh Abridged) uses, though very likely the f one. Sorry if it seems like she's (whoops, I'm) starting pretty well off supplies wise, this was the easiest way and I'll probably have it for quite some time.**

**Same deal as before, reviews are the fuel to my writing fire, so please drop me one. Favourites are good, I can still start burning through a chapter with those.**

**Next: How (not) to survive the Under City :P**


	3. Chapter 3

**Some Random: Phew, this is a new record for my recent updating, I'll say. Maybe if this luck holds we'll all get a chapter 4 shortly, I'll just have to see.**

**Once again, thanks to anyone that reviewed, favourited, or alerted this story, the last two at the least show me somebody's reading this, but big thanks to all my reviewers.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned KotOR, this story would very likely be canon. As I don't, it's fan fiction :P**

**-()-**

Chapter 3 - How (not) to survive the Under City...

Peeking around the corner, I took a good look at the guard post for the next elevator. Chances were that I'd have to us it at some point, so it seemed a good idea to check out what I was going up against.

'_One guard and...turrets. Brilliant, just fan-fucking-tastic.'_

Leaning back against the wall out of sight, I paused for thought.

'_There's no way you're going to be able to pull off the same trick as last time, especially after dismantling that uniform. Maybe this calls for another game plot point loophole: the Hidden Bek base.'_

Plus, heading back there also meant a possible run in with Carth and Revan, or if not, at least Gadon might be able to tell me where they were. It was worth a shot.

Just as I was about to go ahead with the next step of grand plan "Get off Taris alive" I saw a flash of blue up by the elevator.

'_Hang on...who do I know of that's blue and hangs around the Lower City?'_

My lips broke out into a grin as the blue flash from before appeared again, only this time not a flash but a blue Twi'lek, before she disappeared.

'_Mission Vao.'_

And if what I was seeing was right, if she was sneaking into the Under City, it meant she hadn't run into Revan and Carth yet. And that meant the duo weren't as far ahead as I'd expected.

'_Perfect. Now all that's left is to catch up.'_

Following Mission seemed to be a good idea, as I figured I had more chance of coming across Revan and Carth with her then if I turned back for the Bek base. Except that meant getting past the guard.

'_Time for some more creative thinking.'_

If I detoured back to the Bek base to convince Gadon I'm helpful and to get those papers to pass, there would be no chance to implement plan "Follow Mission to Carth and Revan". She'd be long gone by then. I had to go now. But how?

'_Can't easily sneak past, wouldn't have a hope in hell fighting him...think! There has to be a way! If Mission can find one, so can you! You just have to think!'_

Shuffling my feet, I stopped when I felt something loose under them, causing me to look down. Inspiration can come from the strangest places and looking down at the small loose metal plate at my feet gave me some.

It was stupid. It probably wouldn't work and I'd be back at square one. But it was all I had and it was better then nothing.

Clunk.

A few seconds passed and I threw something else from my stash of miscellaneous objects out to clatter along the floor.

'_Wait, wait...yup, I think he moved.'_ I carefully peeked around the corner. _'Yep, he did.'_

Clunk. A few more steps, stopping still within range of the laser turrets. I was surprised none of them had shot any of the stuff I was throwing but I guess ol' Sith boy had something to do with it.

I lobbed another item and watched him pause as it rolled to a stop. Cradling his blaster rifle, he took some cautious steps forward, getting closer to where I needed him to be.

'_Come on, just a little further...just a little more...'_

Clank.

As he just passed under the archway near where I was, I took the opportunity to slip to the other side of the corner, on his blind side. Chucking my last object towards a stack of abandoned machinery and as he went over to investigate, I made a beeline for the elevator.

'_Please tell me it isn't locked, oh please God.' _This whole plan hinged on that and if the door _was_ locked, I was little more then cannon fodder.

"Hey you!" It also didn't work so well if Sith soldier boy turned back too quick. With still a good sprint ahead of me, I summed up the situation in one word.

"Fuck!" A blaster bolt hit the floor near my foot and I flinched.

'_Don't activate the turrets, don't activate those bloody turrets or I'm really fucked.'_

Another shot flew past my head and I ducked by reflex. Just as a whirring got my attention.

'_Damn turrets!'_ I broke into a dead sprint, the Sith soldier on my heels. Not wanting to think about what would happen if those turrets took a shot at me.

'_Not far now, just run!'_

Waving a hand at the door, it thankfully hissed open.

"Yes!" Skidding in, I jabbed at the buttons on the console. Hoping like hell that one of them was the down one.

The lift groaned. I hit the deck to avoid a hail of laser fire from the turrets, cursing.

'_Come on!'_

The doors hissed shut just as another round came my way, battering against it. I didn't move from the floor of the elevator, in no mood to. All I actually did was roll over.

"That's...the last time...I try **anything**...like that...**ever** again." I complained out loud, between ragged breaths.

'_I'm __**really**__ outta shape...'_ I'd never run that fast before in my life, used to being the kid always coming last in any races back in my old high school's athletics carnival. My heart was still hammering in my chest, all that adrenaline yet to leave my system.

I made one solemn vow as I rode the elevator down lying on the floor.

'_**Never.**__ Pull a stunt. Like that. __**Again.**__ Not in a __**million**__ years...'_

**-()-**

By the time the elevator ground to a halt, I'd recovered enough to stand and I stumbled out of it. Although, I must mention I did so shaking like a leaf, the ride down had been worse then the one from the Upper City. This one had sounded like it could fall apart at any second and lying on the floor had just made things worse. That sort of shoddy maintenance I blamed on the Tarisians more then the Sith, being their elevator in the first place. It was doubtful the Sith had changed anything on Taris, except install their shiny new military base and were just as much at risk as everyone else from dying in a rickety old elevator. Regardless, it didn't make me sympathise with any of them at all. My bruised ribs and split lips were compelling evidence against caring.

'_Right, now where did that darn Twi'lek go?'_

Thankfully I didn't get pestered by the two beggars that get players arriving in the Under City. That was one NPC interaction I could do without, the hit to my conscience would be massive. The village itself tugged at my heartstrings enough.

'_How...how can anyone force someone to live like this?'_

Coming to the Under City when it's pixels and other technical crud on a computer screen, I didn't think too much on it. Yeah, it looked pretty crap and you kinda felt sorry for the people but that was the point, right? Like Bowerstone Industrial in Fable 3, with all the people walking around looking poor and depressed. There was nothing I, as a human being, could do with the whole thing being digital so I didn't quite give a real ripe toss. But standing here now, in the mud and dirt and God knows what else, was a different story. It was worse then anything the game portrayed. These guys were poor, and I mean poor. The houses, sorry, **huts** were barely staying upright, the air smelt like...well, actually I didn't quite know what and the people...pale, gaunt and dirty was just the tip of the iceberg.

'_Holy shit...' _I hated Taris, and not just because it was the most boring level or because I was stuck here. No, the stupid, racist, rich pigs that even looked down their nose at **me** up top lived life without a care in the world while people suffered many feet below them. It was ignorance and complacency on a whole other level.

'_Wonder if more of these guys will survive when the bombardment starts, being underneath everything?'_ If they did, then good luck to them. Personally, I wasn't taking any such chances.

Walking through the village towards the gate, I kept my eyes peeled for any more sign of Mission, who was really the whole reason I was down here instead of checking out the Bek base. So far, nothing, and I was beginning to have my doubts. Though it wasn't like I could just ride the elevator back up again. I'd be dead the minute I stepped out. Or arrested, but that's gotta be pretty much the same thing where the Sith are concerned.

"Oof!" I stumbled forward as someone knocked into me from behind, racing past. In fact, a lot of people seemed to running ahead of me, as a few others nearly bowled me over in the rush to get somewhere. Outcasts, I think these guys were called if I remember right. I ran after them, curious about all the commotion.

A crowd was already gathering by the gate (there were tons more people down here then in the Bioware version) when I made it and I squeezed through the gaps to make it to the front. From what I could see, some red-head had just come through the gate with someone else hanging off her. I winced as I took a good look at the guy she was helping, his leg torn up and bleeding quite badly. No surprise that he wasn't walking on his own. The gate closed with a clang behind them and another guy, who I didn't get a good look at as I was too busy fighting for my spot at the time. Then the red-head stumbled and both went down. Before really thinking it through, I ran over with the intention of helping and I could hear her companion coming over too. She was on her knees by the time I made it. I crouched down and slung the guy's other arm over my shoulders, taking the weight off so she could get to her feet. She stared up at me almost curiously, those silvery-blue eyes fixed on my face.

"Looked like you needed a hand." I said which seemed to qualify as an explanation as she got up and took over her side. And not a moment too soon, this guy was practically dead weight to my whole side. I had been getting a lean just from holding him.

"Hendar!" a woman cried, tearing over to us, stopping close when she saw how badly he was torn up, and covering her mouth in shock.

"Easy now." Someone else said. The voice was male and I guessed it belonged to the red-head's companion, who'd obviously gone to calm the woman. Hendar's wife or partner probably. Somehow his voice seemed familiar, but I was too busy with my new role as aide to think too much on it.

"Let him down gently." The red-head said to me. "We don't want to jostle that leg too much."

I nodded, and we lowered our cargo down to rest on a bench alongside a nearby hut. He was handling it all pretty well, I knew if I'd gotten the same injury I'd be crying like a baby. To his credit, his face did seem stuck in a permanent grimace and he was breathing heavily through his nose.

She (man, I really needed to know names) crouched down near him and pulled something out of a pouch on her belt, stabbing it into his leg without hesitation. A loud cry of pain left Hendar (at least I knew his name) and she grabbed his leg carefully to stop him jerking it away.

"Medpak." She practically ordered and her friend tossed one her way. Then she looked up at me.

"I need you to grab a hold of him, this one's gonna hurt more then the last one and him thrashing about with that leg won't help in the slightest."

I nodded, figuring that was the best move to make and slid behind Hendar. I'd just grabbed hold of his arms when her companion spoke up again.

"You got a name, kid?"

I opened my mouth to answer before I was cut off by his little red-headed friend.

"Let the boy concentrate Onasi. You can chat when we're done."

'_Hey, wait, what?'_ My mouth hung open a few seconds, as my mind processed what she'd just said.

'_Did she really not look closely at me? Or hell, listen to my voice?'_ I wanted to laugh at the fact it seemed my stupid gender switch side plan had actually worked. Then...

'_Wait! Back up a second!'_

...the rest of the first sentence hit me.

'_Did she just say Onasi?'_

I looked over at her friend, and almost immediately recognised that orange jacket.

'_Holy crap!' _

If that was Carth, then...then little miss red-head must be...

'_Holy (censored) on a (censored) sandwich with (censored) on top!'_

"Ow!"

The blow to the face broke me out of my shock and it took a second to realise she'd given the shot to Hendar and it had been the back of his head connecting with my face.

"I told you to hold on." She said, nonchalantly, binding his leg to stop the bleeding.

I scowled, seeing the little smirk on her face. "If I hadn't been unduly distracted..." I grumbled, making my way out and rubbing my temple. Thankfully it hadn't been my nose.

Finishing off, she stood up and dusted off her pants, still smirking.

"Not my fault."

'_Yeah, yeah, laugh it up little miss former Sith...just you wait...'_

The whole deal of who the two standing near me were hit me again. And the insane fact that Revan was both female and a red-head.

'_Oh my god...'_

"So, about that name?" Carth said, looking at me expectantly.

"I'll share mine, if you share yours." I changed my voice to sound less feminine, considering now they seemed to actually think I was a guy. And that was a fair thing to ask, right?

"Revan" grinned and...Oh. My. God. You have to be kidding me. She had dimples. The former Dark Lord (or should it be Lady in this case?) and scourge of the Republic had **dimples**. I wanted to burst out laughing at the craziness of it all.

'_Red hair, and dimples. All she needs now is some freckles...'_

"You've got spirit kid, I like that." She said. "Name's Allegra, Allegra Khan."

'_That's what you think...'_

"What's yours boyo?"

Oh right, they thought I was a guy. Almost forgot that.

'_Think of fake first name, think of a fake first name...'_

"Jaqe." _'What? Of all the names, you pick that?' _"Jaqe ****."

She nodded and looked at Carth. "Well?"

He looked at me. "Carth Onasi."

I took little notice of how he seemed to be intently judging my reaction. "That sounds familiar..."

"I guess you could say that."

Allegra rolled her eyes. "I'd have been more surprised if you hadn't said it seemed familiar. Right, Republic?"

Is he? Oh my god, he is. He's frowning at her, like "You shouldn't reveal things like that" frowning.

'_Lolz.'_

"Thank you, oh thank you!" The other woman, Hendar's wife/partner, interrupted our conversation.

"I was glad to help." Allegra said to her, sincerely. "Although next time, he should be a little more careful. Those things are _nasty_."

"Wise words up-worlder." Hendar finally spoke. "I shouldn't have strayed so far from the village in the first place." Grimacing, he shifted to make himself more comfortable.

Hey wait just a second. She's already fought rakghouls? I thought this encounter happened the first time you went through the gate? Hm, shows what I know. That means the first injection was probably the rakghoul serum.

"I can't thank you enough for saving me, up-worlder." Hendar was still at it. "If there was anything I could do to repay..."

Allegra held up her hand, cutting him off. "It was the least I could do. You don't owe me anything you can't afford to give." Hm, must be light side or neutral then. Thank God for that.

"I have you darling, that's all I need." His wife/partner said, and then turned to us. "Thank you again for your kindness strangers."

What, me too? But I barely did anything...

"No worries. Take care." Allegra replied. It took me a moment after that to realise she'd rejoined Carth and moved on.

"Good luck Jaqe!" she called back, waving over her shoulder at me. "Watch yourself, you look like you need it."

Hey, what? I took a second to look down at myself. I didn't look stupid or anything, did I? Sorry, she's running around with Mr "almost fluorescent orange" there, so I don't see how she could criticise me.

And like always after I've done it, I realised I'd just made the worst move. The crowd was peeling off and slowly but surely, the duo were disappearing into it.

'_Fuck, no!'_

I took off in a dead sprint, shoving people out of my way without care in my determination not to be left behind.

"Watch it kid!" someone complained, pushing me right back.

"Then move your arse!" I cried, giving him an even stronger shove that almost bowled him right over.

'_No, no, no!'_ It had cost me all right, I couldn't even see Carth's jacket in this mob and that was saying something.

'_I need to get out!'_

A few more shoves and complaints later, I was free of the crush. Only to find, to my disappointment, they were long go.

'_No!' _This was not happening, this could **not** be happening.

Despair crashed heavily onto my shoulders, enough I actually sank to my knees. I'd just lost all chance of getting out of here alive and I bloody well knew it.

'_Fuck.'_ I hung my head, staring at the dirt. _'Way to go moron.'_

It was all ov...no. No, I refuse to let this one stupid mistake get me down. It wasn't over, I could still catch up to them. Moping about here was only making it worse. I looked back up, a look of determination on my face.

'_It's not over till the fat lady sings, girly, and the soprano hasn't finished their tune yet.' _Clambering to my feet, I stared ahead at the gate.

Time to get my butt moving. I had some serious catching up to do.

**-()-**

"Oh yes, it's not over, you can still catch up." I grumbled out loud, glaring at the ground. "Yeah, maybe if this damn wasteland wasn't so big."

'_Not to mention I think I'm lost again...'_

I'd been trudging along in the ruined, muddy, filthy wasteland outside the Outcast village (the **real** Under City if you ask me) for some time now, or at least that's what it felt like, and there was still no sign of Allegra and Carth. Plus, the Under City was also a lot bigger then I remember it being. I couldn't even see those wall-things that were in the Bioware version, though I think by now I should know that things are definitely not the same here. Come on, Revan is a red-head, that should say it all. Not that I have anything against red-heads, hell, I even considered dying my hair red once. Settled for red streaks instead.

I sighed, coming to a halt. Frankly, my legs ached from all the running and walking I'd been doing lately. And...yup, there went my stomach.

'_This is going nowhere. For all I know, I 'm going in the complete wrong direction.'_

Too late to head back and wait around the Bek base? It was starting to look like a good idea to me. My stomach growled again and I wrapped my arms around it.

'_Man, when did I last eat? I don't think I even got dinner before I wound up here. Talk about unfair.'_

Another low growl and I frowned.

'_Come on, it can't be __**that**__ bad.'_

It was only when I heard a strange shuffling that I realised it hadn't **all** been my stomach. My eyes went wide.

'_Crap.' _Shooting a glance over my shoulder, they got even wider. Coming my way were about two, three, no wait, four rakghouls, which really got my legs trembling. One thought came to mind after I analysed the odds.

'_Leg it!'_

I took off without a second thought. Sadly, it just seemed to make things worse. They came tearing after me.

'_Double crap!'_

Here I was again. Running for my life. Great. First Sith, now rakghouls. When will it end?

I raced along the somewhat uneven terrain, swerving to dodge rocks and other hazards. The bloody things stayed right on my tail. I leapt over a pile of discarded, rusting droid parts (danger didn't stop me feeling pro for pulling it off) and kept running. What else could I do? Face off against four of the things with a blaster and sword I had no idea how to properly use? Fat chance. I'll stick to legging it. A rock on the ground nearly took me out as I stumbled over it.

Is this how it ended? Running like a coward from a bunch of slobbering mutants? Not far off from zombies I must admit.

The ground I'd gained would only hold for so long. Especially now that I was slowly running out of steam.

I barely noticed the small gathering ahead as I ran on. Too concerned with imminent mutilation to be frank. I **did** notice when I passed through and someone grabbed the back of my shirt as I tore past. The sudden jerk landed me arse first on the ground.

"Ah!"

"You'll take someone out tearing around here like a fool." A gruff, if somewhat familiar voice said. "Or get yourself killed, one or the other."

"Yeah well for your information jerkoff I was just...aw crap!" I cut myself off halfway through my complaint at the arrival of my tailers.

"Rakghouls!" someone shouted and I repressed the urge to slap whoever it had been.

'_Thanks Captain Obvious, it's not like I knew that already...'_

"Fabulous." A familiar female voice, this time, tone layered in sarcasm.

I was hauled onto my feet by the same guy that had grabbed me and only when I turned around to snap at him did I recognise who it was. And quickly decided against it.

'_Holy shit, it's Canderous Ordo...'_

Then the rakghouls were upon us and he shoved me out the way to rain fire on them with that big arse gun of his.

'_Does everyone man-handle people in this universe?'_ I took the time to think, and then decided to forget about it due to how wrong it then sounded. My hands fumbled for my blaster (there was no way I was going close combat with these things) as the air filled with the sound of laser fire and the growls of rakghouls. Stretching out my arm, blaster in hand, I aimed at one of the beasts and pulled the trigger. The recoil shot through my wrist, only to make me drop the damn thing.

"Fuck!" Oh yeah, and I missed.

I dove onto the ground for my blaster, only to have one of those darn mercs of Canderous' kick it away. Cursing, I scrambled along after it, avoiding feet and legs as I went.

"Aw come on!" I cried, as it was once again kicked out of reach. A pair of longer, shapely, more feminine legs stepped over me quite easily, their owner sending a hail of blaster bolts at the rakghouls from what sounded like two blasters.

'_Two blasters is Carth remember, but those legs were too female to be his...'_

"Yes!" I cried, finally picking up my blaster. Only to have a rakghoul leaping straight towards me.

"Gah!" Thankfully I still had the piece of mind to roll underneath it. Once upright, I lifted my blaster. Bracing for the recoil, I let off a shot towards it, somehow managing to hit it in the back of the head. With a groan, the thing keeled over. I would have danced for joy that I'd actually hit/killed something...if there hadn't been a loud growl right behind me. Whirling around met me almost face to face with another rakghoul bounding right towards me. Panicking, I dropped my blaster again as I fumbled around with it.

'_Fuck, fuck!' _

My hands grasped at the handle of my sword just as it leapt towards me...only to be nailed by a hail of blaster fire. I stared in shock as it fell to the ground, heart hammering in my chest. The sounds of battle around me died down, and one last rakghoul growled its last. I didn't move, I **couldn't** move, fixed to that spot in shock. Acceptable considering I was almost rakghoul chow. However, the sudden slap the back of my head sure snapped me out of it.

"Ow!" I turned around to glare at who'd slapped me, a compliant already rolling off my tongue, "Watch it arsehole!"

"You're lucky you're not dead." Canderous growled. "That slap was the least of your problems."

I paled under that fierce gaze, mouth half hanging open to pronounce a snappy comeback I readily forgot.

"I can't say your men fared much differently." That familiar female voice was back again, holding a mocking tone. I looked up to see a familiar head of red hair.

'_Hm, I'm thinking maybe adding a "for now" to the must be light side/neutral for ol' Rev here...'_

I will admit I was much happier to have Canderous glaring at her, rather then me. She twirled a pair of much more advanced heavy blasters around her fingers, before holstering them.

'_So that's who the dual wielder was...' _Obviously somebody picked that dual wielding feat..._nice_. Oh wait, this is real, which makes it all the more awesome. Of course, in my daze over Allegra's dual wielding-ness, I missed half the conversation.

"Ow!" And Canderous slapped me on the back of the head again.

"What was that one for?" I snapped, glaring up at him.

He grinned wolfishly. "Pay attention idiot."

I scowled, picking myself up off the ground. Man, he wasn't this annoying in the game. Just totally kick arse. Though as much as I liked Canderous and his badass-ness, it didn't mean I tolerated him picking on me. In fact, the only thing holding me back from launching into a full scale bitch at him was the fact he could beat the absolute crap outta skinny little me.

He turned to Allegra. "I'd turn back now if I were you. There's nothing left in those pods worth picking through."

She glanced over at Carth, and then nodded.

Canderous was still talking. "Me, I'm headed back to the surface. If you were smart, you would too."

Did he...yep, he looked at me. **Specifically** at me. Up yours, arsehole.

"Hey!"

"You don't look like you could fight your way out of a cardboard box, much less survive down here." He said, mockingly, "And that armour. What did you do, rob a Sith?"

I'd opened my mouth to say something (I forget what) and it hung open after his last sentence. What could I possibly say? He was right after all.

"Figures." He scoffed. "You look like an idiot in it anyway."

I scowled, hands curling into fists at my sides. All he did was smirk.

'_Hey! I took a few punches for this damn armour! Don't you mock me Candy!' _Oh it was on all right. When he joined the crew...oh boy, he had it coming. So did Basty and she hadn't even met me yet. That was a whole 'nother story there.

"Come on." He barked at his remaining mercs. "Let's get out of here before I lose anyone else. I can't baby sit everybody."

I believe that one included me. And from the fierce scowl on Allegra's face, she wasn't taking his idle comment lightly either. He'd just passed her when she spoke up.

"Scurrying back because you can't handle it then?" Her mocking tone from before had nothing on this one. "Ha! It's a wonder any of your kind survived the Wars."

'_I'm thinking this is ol' Revan breaking through...'_ And I probably wasn't far off, seeing a look pass on Allegra's face like she was a little uncertain where that had come from.

Canderous stopped, his back to us, and went very still. The tension was so thick not even one of my witty retorts would break it.

"You've got guts baiting a Mandalorian lady. Almost like...well." He chuckled grimly and hoisted that huge gun up onto his shoulders. "We'll see how long it lasts you down here."

And with that last parting gesture, him and his last crony (there had been at least four before) left us behind. Allegra watched him go, silvery-blue eyes boring into his back. I was betting somewhere deep in her subconscious Revan was fuming at being shut down by the Mandalorian.

"Looks like we meet again, Jaqe." Carth said, looking over at me and I turned to face him.

"Yeah, looks like it." _'I really should have picked a better name.' _I figured I'd ask the obvious question. "What are you guys doing down here anyway?"

"Hunting escape pods." Allegra chipped in, strolling over to us. "Well, more specifically, searching for someone."

I just stopped myself before I blurted out something about Bastila. Carth, with his lack of trust complex, was already going to have issues with me from the fake name, I didn't need to blow my cover and make things worse. Come to think of it, I'm gonna need a fake background to go with that fake name...

"The pods from the space battle, right?" Is what I said instead. Everybody knew about that little tidbit, so I was certainly in the clear.

Carth nodded. "Yes."

Allegra shot a stern glance at him. Obviously in her book, with robbing Sith armour on my record, I wasn't exactly on friendly terms with any of them.

"From the _Endar Spire_." She said. "We're looking for Bastila, a Jedi that was part of our crew, but she's been taken captive by the Black Vulkars." She pulled a face. "_Apparently_, a "Mission Vao" can help with getting into their base."

Hey, don't doubt that Twi'lek missy, you'll be glad to have her tagging along later.

"So I'm guessing she's around here somewhere?"

Allegra shrugged. "Under City in general, which could be anywhere to be honest."

Great. So another game plot point had come unravelled. You're supposed to run into Mission right after leaving the Outcast village, after the encounter with Hendar. Apparently not in this reality.

"Then it looks like you could use all the help you can get." There. I said it. Now time to wait with baited breath to see whether she lets me tag along or not. Fingers crossed she won't leave me out here on my own, otherwise I'll be dead faster then you can say "totally screwed".

She exchanged a look with Carth and for good measure; I hid my hands behind my back with my fingers crossed. I needed all the luck I could get.

"It's going to be quite dangerous, and I wouldn't want to just throw you into harm's way, especially after..." She coughed discreetly. "...before."

Hey, I panicked okay? And if you think leaving me behind is a good idea...I almost considered saying that it would be a better idea to be in company if my lack of combat experience is anything to go by.

"But an extra pair of hands is sounding real nice right now." She looked at Carth again. "Onasi?"

Oh great. Now my life hangs in the hands of Mr "I have major trust issues"? Fabulous.

"It's probably not a good idea to have some stranger tagging along and slowing us down." He said, "No offence kid."

Oh hey, none taken. You know, just my whole life depends on this one moment. Take your time. It's not like there's an impending doom approaching or anything. Geez.

"And Mission isn't a stranger?" I did make a good point just there. "Or would you rather hang me out a limb here to wind up as rakghoul chow if I'm not careful?" Low blow for using the guilt trip move but I was running outta options.

"I say let him come." Allegra said, and I was glad someone was on my side. "Might actually prove useful."

'_Hey wait, __**might**__? Don't force yourself lady.'_

He threw his hands in the air. "Fine."

She grinned at me. "Welcome to the team Jaqe."

Oh yes. And not too soon either. Now all we had to do now was find that darn blue Twi'lek.

'_Hm, isn't that why you came here in the first place?' _Talk about the irony.

**-()-**

**Some Random: So a light sided appearing, redheaded, female Revan...looks like our dear protagonist has her hands full. And I guess the chapter name wasn't far off. ^-^ Yet another Yugioh Abridged quote, the extension of the first "Holy (censored) on a (censored) sandwich". Had a little trouble with the some of the dialogue, to make it flow properly, even now I'm not sure. Oh well, I'm sure someone will point out if something doesn't work...**

**You know the drill, reviews keep me, and in turn the story, going smoothly so drop me a line if you're so inclined. Hey, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it... **

**Next: KotOR Anniversary...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Some Random: I'm back...but sadly, not in black. Sorry I took so long updating, there are probably dozens of contributing factors to that, one being going back to Uni, another getting writer's block and another still being my addiction to Dragon Age: Origins, another Bioware game. Morrigan just cracks me up sometimes. Once again thank you to all my lovely reviewers, it really inspires me to keep on writing when I hear from people. And feel even worse when I don't update for ages, and try to pick up the pace. I actually split this chapter, cause otherwise it was gonna be waaay too darn long. So I guess that means I'm, like, a whole chapter behind where I wanted to be. Oh well. Oooh and brownie points to anyone that picks out the pun in today's title, if you've played the actual game it'll be a lot easier...**

**Disclaimer: Let's just say the only thing I own is myself and leave it at that, shall we?**

**-()-**

Chapter Four - KotOR Anniversary...

I could probably sum up everything that's happened to me lately in a few short sentences. Wound up on Taris for unexplained reasons. Got lost. Got assaulted by a Sith. Knocked him out and stole his uniform. Made it to the Lower City. Almost got killed getting into the Under City. Helped an injured guy. Found Carth and Revan. Lost them. Got chased by rakghouls. Got attacked by rakghouls. Almost died. Found Carth and Revan again. Joined up with Carth and Revan.

All in the space of not even a day which was insane. And now, here I was, trudging along in the wasteland that was the Under City with Revan and Carth looking for Mission. Hopefully, for my sake, we don't run into anymore rakghouls...

Speaking of them, Carth was a lot like he was in the game. Crazy orange jacket, same voice, same face, and that same hairstyle with those two bangs in his face, even carried two blasters. Oh, and had trust issues, can't miss that major flaw of his character. Which I wasn't helping with currently looking much like a guy and using a fake name. Natch.

Revan, whoops sorry Allegra, was a whole different ball game. I had no idea what to expect from her, normally having been a player controlled mute. It was actually quite exciting the prospect of getting to know the pivotal character in all this (or her false identity at least) instead of just playing them. From her outfit and the way she talked to Carth, I wasn't dealing with a soldier but a scout, which certainly was going to make things interesting. Scout was actually one of my favourite classes to play as, second to Jedi Guardian (mainly for the Force Jump feat), so it's rather ironic I'm running around with one now.

I fell into step beside Allegra, who I figured would be easiest to talk to and not just because we shared the same sex. Although as far as she knew, I was male, or at least it seemed that way to me. Then again, she could be messing with me and going along with it all for my benefit. Carth could be as well for all I know.

"So, how'd you find out Bastila was a Vulkar prisoner?" I asked. Thankfully nearly everyone knew about the Black Vulkars so I was safe in saying that. And they had told me Bastila was their prisoner after all...

"The leader of the Hidden Beks, Gadon, told us." She replied. "And that the only way to get her back was to win the big swoop race."

"I don't understand." I said, innocently, knowing the answer to my next question anyway but appearance was everything. "How does getting into their base figure into anything? It's not like they'd actually have her on the base where anyone could find her." Logic crossed with omnipotence to sound like I'd rationally thought it out. Aren't I a clever little cookie?

"We know that already. Gadon's sponsoring us for the race in exchange for the return of a prototype accelerator the Vulkar's stole." Carth, up ahead, answered me this time. Wow, guess he trusts me enough to answer that question. Not that that means much. "We find the accelerator, we get into the race and then we can rescue Bastila."

"And Mission knows how to get into the base." I finished. "I think I've got it now."

Silence filtered in and I ran my tongue over my dry lips, only to find marks on the edge of both on the right side.

'_Damn, I think those blows Sith boy landed have left scars.'_ I raised my arm to use the reflective surface of my gauntlet to get a good look. Yep. Much like Ezio's from Assassin's Creed 2/Brotherhood. Well, it looked more flattering on him.

"Hey Jaqe?"

I lowered my arm. Guess I'd have to deal with it.

"Jaqe?"

It took me a second to realise Allegra was calling my 'name'. "Sorry, what?"

"You know I'd be a lot more careful if I were you, _boy_." She grinned, showing off those dimples again. I frowned, I couldn't help it. She **had** been messing with me. The emphasis on "boy" was all I needed to point that out.

I looked pointedly at her. "How long?"

"Pardon?" She returned my look with one of innocence. Revan? Innocent? Yeah, and I'm a Chihuahua...

"You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about."

"Jaqe, I have no idea what you're talking about." Then she leant close and whispered to me. "You might want to watch flyboy here with whatever reason you're masquerading as male for." She pointed to Carth. "He seems to have a few problems trust wise."

Yeah. Tell me something I don't know. I'm almost thinking of dropping the whole disguise idea. "You didn't answer my question. How long have you known?"

"I've done a little "gender switching" myself, so I know what to look for. As to how long..." She just grinned again and moved on ahead, which told me exactly what I needed to know.

'_The whole time. Great. The words "smug bitch" comes to mind...'_ Though that meant Carth didn't know, or she didn't think he didn't know. Hopefully just the latter otherwise I was in trouble. Don't ever recall Revan using gender switched disguises before, but then again, that little tid bit's probably from "Allegra".

I changed the subject. "So, have you met this Mission before?"

"Only once." Carth answered, probably oblivious to the earlier conversation between Allegra and I. "In the Lower City cantina."

Hm, check to game plot point "Meet Mission in Lower City cantina". At least something seems to be going right...

"A couple of Vulkars thought it a great idea to antagonise her." Allegra elaborated, smirking. "Of course, it's not smart to get on the bad side of someone who travels with a Wookie."

Ah yes, good ol' Zaalbar. Probably going to have rescue him soon, once Mission eventually turns up. That darn Twi'lek is never around when you need her...

"Shouldn't that make her all that much easier to find?"

"That's what I thought, but it looks like it was too much to hope for."

'_Wow, looks like somebody invested points in the pessimism skill...not that I can talk.'_

"Though I guess being pessimistic doesn't help anyone, wouldn't you say?"

"_Tell_ me about it." I said without thinking and quickly added, "Coming from experience." Or did that just make things worse? I certainly didn't know.

She gave me this look, of curiosity and something else I couldn't quite pick out. I came to the decision to ignore it for now and get the focus off of me.

"Sooo..."

She raised an eyebrow. "So, what?"

"How does someone like you end up searching a place like this for Jedi?" Did I just say that? Yep, I believe I did. Great. Bet Carth thinks that's my version of sweet talking her, though for all I know, he's not actually listening.

"And what's meant by, 'someone like me', hm?"

Lady catches on quick. "Well, he's Republic and since it's a Jedi you're looking for and they're all mixed up in this whole war with the Sith business she's running along the same line there, right? You just...I don't know, seem different." Way to sound totally convoluted. I'll be amazed she doesn't eventually kick me out of this little posse for the sake of sanity, considering I have a terrible habit of rambling. Or saying simple things in such a weird way it starts to make absolutely no sense whatsoever, or very little. Especially when I'm nervous.

"That obvious, huh?" She smiled lightly, looking on ahead. "You wouldn't be far off. I'm no Republic soldier if that's what you're asking."

I returned the smile. "Really? Though with that bright orange jacket of his, you'd never guess Onasi was Republic either, unless you recognised the face."

"You picking on my fashion sense back there kid?" Carth joined the conversation. "Might have a thing or two to say about your outfit if that's the case."

I pulled a face. Why did everybody have a problem with my outfit? It's not like I was wearing fluoro pink skinnies or something equally ridiculous. Even back home how I dressed wasn't "in" or so it seemed. Not that I cared much mind you, but the staring I got from some people did get a little old sometimes, though mostly from the kind of girls that sort of thing mattered for.

"You got a problem with my outfit Onasi?" I teased, deciding against bitching for now. "Too fashionable for ya?"

He rolled his eyes. "The Mandalorian was right, you do look like you robbed a Sith and lived."

I pouted. "Hey, you're listening to what that jerk off said now?"

He repeated my earlier pulling face manoeuvre, yet said nothing. Allegra watched the two of us curiously, waiting to see what would happen next I guess.

'_And I thought Carth's problem was with the Sith more than Mandalorians. Guess he just doesn't like the fact he's actually agreeing with Canderous on something. Interesting...'_

"To answer your earlier question," Allegra finally spoke up to break the silence "I'm, well, I guess you could call me a wanderer."

I raised an eyebrow, though glad for the distraction. "Wanderer? What kind of job description is that?" Technically it was both eyebrows being raised, as I'm not one of those lucky people that can only raise one. Though saying "raised my eyebrows" doesn't sound quite as cool.

She laughed, grinning and showing off those dimples again. "I wouldn't call it a job exactly, more of a lifestyle."

'_That's what you think sweetheart. I could tell ya what your __**real**__ job description, for lack of better term, is but you'd probably beat me over the head with a stick and call me crazy. Plus, who'd wanna deny Malak the pleasure of doing so himself? Baldy's gotta have some kicks in life.'_

"I guess if you need a proper term for it, you could call me a scout. Exploring the galaxy, mingling with the locals of planets people have barely even heard of..." Her eyes seemed to glaze over, reminiscing I guess. "...it was a good life, no rules except my own."

Seems the Jedi went to a lot of trouble with this false identity of hers though, and part of me really hated the guys for it. I mean, the poor woman believes she spent her life doing one thing, when in reality none of that ever happened. Allegra Khan doesn't really exist, never really did. Not even a former Sith Lord/Lady deserved this kind of crap, even if that's the only way for them to let her live, or whatever. I like Jedi, fancy Force powers, lightsabers and all that, but I thought manipulating people, lying to them, building falsities and that bullshit was a Sith's job. Or so the tales go.

"Then how does someone that does all that wind up tagging along with a Republic soldier in the search of Jedi?"

"Not easily." She actively met my gaze. "What about you, kid?"

I pouted. "First off, lose the 'kid'. I'm almost twenty." She just smirked at that. "Secondly, I'm just another of the unfortunate people stuck on this pit of world because of the quarantine, nothing special."

"Sounds...vague." Carth said, in a very mistrusting voice. Well, screw you. My real life would have me condemned to insanity in this reality.  
"It's the truth, like it or not. I left home, figured I'd try to find a way to avoid the war while travelling around only due to incredibly bad luck to wind up stuck on Taris. End of story." While unsafe where Carth was concerned, the vaguer my back story, the easier it would be to keep up. Gave me room to manoeuvre if anything. Besides, it wasn't all that far from the truth if you really thought about it.

"I _don't_ like it, truth or not. Just how did you get that uniform?"

I really didn't like the way he was looking at me, all squinty eyed and angry. Right, so _I'm_ the one going out of my way to be suspicious and you're not just paranoid. I understand the guy was betrayed by someone he thought was a friend, an ally, but geez, I have been too and you don't see me sizing up everyone I meet in case I get lied to again. Allegra seemed to have this look on her face, like "Oh God, not this again" so I guessed she'd already gone through the "I don't trust easily" conversation with him. I didn't blame her as in my opinion that was by far the most annoying part of his character.

I crossed my arms over my chest, the three of us having stopped to have this stupid conversation. "By stealing it, strangely enough. You think I gave myself these lovely marks on my face?" I pointed to my Ezio scars (hey, I couldn't think of a better description!).

That shut him up, though he still seemed to be glaring at me.

'_Fine, be that way. I'm not putting up with this any longer.' _And with that thought in mind, I stalked off in the direction we'd been heading in until this little break. My hands slipped to just below my hips, probably with the intention of sticking themselves in my pockets which would have worked if I'd still been wearing my jeans. As it was, this was not the case. Pouting at this annoying discovery, I went for the next plan, crossing my arms just above my stomach which I sometimes did when in a bad mood only to find one thing missing in the equation that normally would have been there.

'_Bindings. Right.' _The obstruction they usually sat right under, my breasts. The whole fact of them "missing" was awkward and I removed my arms, packing a little spaz in the process that probably had Allegra and Carth questioning my mental stability.

'_Another thing to add to his list...' _Frowning, my hands twitched, unable to do anything with them.

It was then that for the second time today someone ploughed right into me, this time from the front. Consequently sending me tumbling into the dirt for at least the third time. Can't these people watch where they're going? And all this running into people and falling over was not very friendly to the bruises over my ribs at all. Neither was running in general, to be honest, but I hadn't had much choice over that so far.

"Please, you have to help me!"

Then I wasn't so mad at being knocked over, recognising that voice and realising how much time and effort had been saved just by having her run into me. Oh yeah, I should probably mention it was Mission who'd bowled me over. While not mad I was still in some form of pain though...

"Hey, it's you guys again." She said, stopping (only _after_ knocking me over).

"Mission Vao, right?" Allegra asked the Twi'lek.

"Yes. You have to help me. I don't know who else to turn to!"

I missed what Mission said next, as she launched into a flurry of words and nervous gestures that was difficult to understand. Poor thing must be real worried for her Wookie buddy. That's what this was all about, right?

'_Man, I really need to remember important stuff.' _Truth be told, I hadn't played this game in over a year, so my omnipotence was going to be a little lacking. Maybe I won't get into as much trou...nope. I'd found enough trouble regardless. Mission was still at it, so I figured I'd give us all a break, and get her making sense.

"I've got four words for you Mission." I interrupted, getting up off the ground. I held up a hand, counting them off on my fingers. "Slow. The. Hell. Down."

She blinked at me owlishly, probably not realising I had been there until now.

"Now start from the beginning and tell us just what's going on."

Allegra nodded. "I agree with Jaqe. What's the problem?"

"Jaqe?" Mission echoed.

"Never mind that." I waved it off. "Now you were saying?"

"Yes." Wow, Carth seems to backing me up, I might die of shock. "Start at the beginning kid."

Obviously, she was too worried at the moment to get annoyed at Carth about that (considering how much she seems to hate being called that in the game) and thankfully started to explain at much more understandable pace.

"It's Zaalbar. He's...we were exploring the sewers like we always do and..."

"Zaalbar's her Wookie friend." Allegra cut in. "The one we mentioned earlier."

Oh right. I supposedly didn't know that. Whoops. My lack of confused reaction almost blew my cover. Sheesh, I gotta be more careful. Especially from the way Paranoid Pilot was looking at me. Even more so after our little episode earlier. "I...see. Explains why we didn't ever see her with him then, if something's happened to him." _'Nice save.'_

She looked at me for a moment, then back at Mission. "Sorry. Please, go on."

"Right." Mission glanced at me for a second before returning to her story telling. "The sewers, we go there all the time, exploring, looking for things, you know?"

"I guess with a Wookie at your side, you've got to figure you can handle the odd rakghoul attack." Carth said, to which Allegra nodded.

"Tis true enough, I suppose." I said, agreeing with him. He gave me an odd look at that, which I ignored.

"What then?" Allegra prompted.

"Well ...they came out of nowhere! Big Z told me to run and...and...I did. I just left him back there! He was supposed to be right behind me, but...the Gamoreans...you have to help me get him back!" Poor thing seemed a few strong words short of tears and my heart instantly went out for her. It's not every day your best buddy gets in serious trouble.

Allegra's eyes were more of a blue-black then their normal silvery-blue. "Slavers. Perfect."

Is it just me, or am I detecting a nasty undertone there? Someone really doesn't like slavers. Neither do I, to be truthful. The whole idea that slavery even exists makes me sick.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but am I the only one wondering how Gamoreans instantly equates to slavers?" I figured that was the safest thing to say, vaguely remembering that's who had Zaalbar. Like I said, memory of the game isn't what it used to be.  
"They captured a Wookie. They're not there to play nice Jaqe." Ouch. I want the happy-go-lucky Allegra back, this one's starting to scare me. Someone say Revan relapse?

"They'll sell him into slavery if...if..." Mission started to say, trailing off and biting her lower lip. Hell, this is her at one of her worst moments. The girl's normally a pretty strong character, being what, 14, and involved in all this nasty business.

"We need a way into the Vulkar base and Gadon told us you're the one to talk to. After we find Zaalbar, you help us find a way in. Sound fair?" Allegra said.

Hey, at least she said it diplomatically, instead of just outright you-want-help-you-have-to-help-us, right? Revan wasn't a military genius for nothing, even Sith would need to negotiate. Well, when it was in their best interests **not** to wipe out the entire planet, though from the looks of Telos, I don't know if that logic stands up either.

"One Wookie for passage into the Vulkar base?" I said, mostly directed at Allegra. "That's the image I'm gettin' here."

"I'll get you into the base, sure, you just have to help me find him. Please?" Mission answered.

"That was the intention from the start." Allegra replied, tone light, and she looked at first Carth and then me. "At least, my own intention. Unless other parties...object?"

Say what now? Revan, big bad ol' Revan (false identities notwithstanding) was asking our opinion? Our being Carth and...me? "Hey, you're the one leading this gig, I'm just a tag-along who figured sh...he wanted to help. Yeah, that's about it." _'Close one there. I really need to work at this undercover gig.' _And can Carth **please** stop staring at me? This is really starting to get real old, real fast.

'_You want the real answer? I'm tagging along so I don't get killed when the Sith blow this planet to hell and back Onasi, cause they don't want Basty escaping. How do I know that? Well, that's a long story boyo...'_

Carth just nodded and Allegra turned back to Mission. "Lead on."

**-()-**

I'll say one thing: the good thing about exploring the sewers in the fictional KotOR is you can't smell anything. This place was **bad**, my oh so delicate senses hadn't smelt anything this horrible before. It reeked of death, shit and who knows what else. Not that I was inclined to find out. You're practically breathing in this rotted, musty, frankly disgusting odour the whole time.

I gagged, wrinkling my nose as the stench hit me once again, I couldn't help it. "Ugh. It smells like something died down here."

"Something probably did." Allegra said, and was that...a smile?

"You won't be smiling when you're face planted into whatever something died in."

"With your track record, I'm more inclined to think that'll be you."

I scowled at her. "I more meant when I push you into it, smart arse." All she did was a raise an eyebrow in response.

Crossing my arms, I fell into step with Mission, who with my expert guess-ti-mation (it's a word now because I said so) was my best bet for conversation. Allegra now seemed more concerned with finding our way around these sewers in the hunt for Zaalbar, as well as Carth. And probably keeping an ear out for trouble, which is probably something I should be doing as well with, like she had ever so _kindly_ pointed out, my track record for winding up in some sort of trouble. Carth, well, we all know how "Oh my God she's going to stab me in the back the minute I turn around" he was about me now.

'_I'm starting to regret the whole, let's have a vague background that could leave me as anyone, idea...idiot!'_

"You're Jaqe, right?" Mission then said and I nodded.

"Yup. That's me." _'If I were actually a guy...' _

She gave me this look I couldn't quite decipher. "You just don't seem like a...Jaqe."

I raised those eyebrows of mine. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it."

There was a bit of an awkward silence and I tried to think of what to say to fill the gap. She, on the other hand, was still looking at me.

"What?"

"Now that I think about it, that shirt looks familiar."

"Eh?" My brow furrowed and I pulled at my red shirt. "Familiar how?"

"How did you get past the guard at the elevator in the Lower City?"

Oh, that. Nothing really, just almost got myself killed. "A little creativity." Hey wait, if she's saying that, and she recognised my shirt, that means she must have seen me up there. At least that's the impression I'm getting.

"Uh huh."

"Is this cryptic talk for 'you're that person I saw near the elevator'?"

She raised an eyebrow. I just blinked innocently.

"I've never seen you 'round Taris before." She changed our train of conversation, leaving the other one behind. "If I had, I would have remembered seeing that red in a crowd."

Oh, so it's not the armour in question but my shirt? Back off people!

I crossed my arms over my chest. "I happen to think this is a very nice shirt." Hopefully I didn't sound or look too girly doing so. This opposite gender thing is harder than I thought. Damn _She's the Man_ for making this gender switching business look easy!

"I never knew guys could be so touchy about their clothes." She teased. "Or is this just you?"

I frowned, just remembering not to do what I normally would and cock my hips to the side as I gave her my best unimpressed look. "Because...shut up." Way to go Jaqe, steal lines from Ishizu in Yugioh Abridged why don't you? Geez, I really need to work on this male acting business. I'm better at pretending I don't know anything then that. And I swear that sounded better in my head.

"Maybe we better start again." She said and I looked at her curiously. "Introductions I mean."

"Oh. Right." A pause, as we continued walking through the muck. "I'm Jaqe then, Jaqe ****." _'I'm really going to have to get used to using that name.'_

"Nice meeting you Jaqe, I'm Mission Vao."

I couldn't help grinning at how funny this sounded, even though it probably made me look a little like an idiot. "Nice to meet you too Mission. I'm guessing you already know the other two."

She nodded. "Met them in the Lower City cantina a little while back, with...Zaalbar." Her face fell and I immediately felt bad.

"We'll get him back Mission, don't you worry." I said, reassuringly.

"You're remarkably sensitive for a guy."

'_Oops...'_ I shrugged. "Your best friend's been kidnapped by a bunch of fat piggish creatures, I'm not going to be a total arse about the fact you feel bad." I looked ahead towards Allegra and Carth, deep in conversation about something. "Just because I'm a guy, doesn't mean I don't have feelings."

That got a smile out of her. "Yeah, I guess."

I raised my eyebrows (really wish I could just raise the one). "You guess?"

She laughed. "You look so perturbed."

"I do not. I was aiming for sceptical."

"It didn't quite work."

"Damn."

We fell into silence, trudging along behind Allegra and Carth. Considering how long we'd already been down in the sewers, trekking about, and how bored I can get with silence sometimes, it didn't last long.

"Man, just where is this darn camp anyway?"

"You're asking me like I have an idea." Mission said.

I shrugged. "Actually, it was more of a rhetorical question. I kinda figured none of us knew where it was."

"Then why ask?" Allegra called from the front. "If you know there's no point?"

"For the sake of asking?" I shrugged again. "You're asking me like I know."

She shook her head. "Right."

And this, sometimes, is why people find it hard to put up with me. Maybe I should cut down on the inane quips, to avoid overly annoying people. That would probably be a good idea.

I was really starting to hate these sewers though, and it wasn't just because we were taking so long finding Zaalbar. The smell had a big part of it, as well as the fact I had the sneaking suspicion what I was trudging through half the time would drive a health and safety nut insane. I didn't even want to _think_ about just what went "squish" under my foot every so often, nor did I like to hear said noise. Not to mention the dirty, stinking water (at least that's what I _think_ it was) pouring from above in some sections was wreaking havoc with my hair. And if it's one thing I happen to fuss over the most about myself, it's my hair.

I sighed, sending the bangs floating in front of my face flying up. _'This hike is worse than Geography camp back in high school. At least back then I knew when it ended...oh and that smelt of rainforest, not crap and corpses in various states of decomposition...' _Something told me I was never drinking the water on Taris...unless from the Upper City. They probably filtered it up there.

Allegra flinched as something (not sure what) landed on her shoulder, flicking it off to land against a wall with a "splat". Seems even Revan doesn't look kindly at unpleasant...droppings, for lack of a better term.

Soon enough though, our little troupe came to a shut door, a strange occurrence due to most of the other doors (if you could call them that) in the sewers we'd come across so far having been open. Or half-rusted, half wrenched open, take your pick. Allegra, our fearless leader, glanced back, before drawing both her blasters and after opening it, peered around the side of the door. Carth mimicked her posture on the other side. A few seconds passed, where my hand hovered over my blaster like a fly over an abandoned sandwich, Mission having a nice grip on her own blaster. My sword didn't even figure into my mind, at least I somewhat knew how to use the blaster now in comparison. Allegra lowered her blasters, still keeping them in her hands however and stepped through. Mission and I, in a strange bout of almost telepathy, looked at each other as if to say "Does that mean it's clear?" A heavy blaster carrying hand waving through the door was all the answer we needed.

My eyes widened at the sight of the room, it was heaps bigger than the other parts we'd just been travelling through. Still as dirty and unwelcoming as ever though. And...yep, that ever present smell. Although there was a lot more of eau de rotting corpse in here, and less filthy mutant.

"Oh man, this place smells even worse than the rest of the sewers." I complained, nose wrinkling in distaste again. Hm, did I just hear something? Nah, probably hallucinating.

"Geez, stop complaining. For a guy you sure are whiny." Mission said, trailing along behind me.

I frowned. "If you like I can push you into a puddle and then we'll see whose whiny then."

"I'd like to see you try."

Our voices, though quiet still seemed to echo in the room. I didn't expect one room in the sewers to be so big. There'd only been a couple in the game that had been so open, a few catwalks and some kind of generator, machine thing in a couple and the other that came to mind was the one...with the rancor. I swallowed nervously by reflex, remembering that giant plot point waiting to happen.

'_Calm down. That fella is waiting by the entrance to the Vulkar base, nowhere near here, or this point of the game/story. Don't have a panic attack over something that isn't happening yet.'_

But the Outcast city NPC gate cut scene/interaction happened out of sync, as did the stuff with Mission. I mean, she's supposed to pounce on you the minute you're done with Hendar. In fact, this whole time I'd been just waiting for a rakghoul or two to jump out at us, or even one of those Gamorean fellows, just like in the game, but so far nothing which was insanely weird. Oh wait, I lie, there was that one moment back a bit that we avoided, Allegra mentioning something after that about stealth being the operative choice, Carth agreeing with her. I wasn't about to argue, the less combat the better in my opinion. No need to get killed too quickly.

After its initial shock and subsequent rationalising, my mind then skipped to the idea that maybe this big room was an indicator that the camp wasn't far off. You'd need a fair amount of room for slaving right? Somewhere to keep all your stuff?

'_Where the hell am I going with this?'_

I continued wandering on, trying to figure just where such train of thought had taken me, or where it had come from, until a lack of echoing footsteps had me stop walking. Yep, now that I stopped to listen, it sounded like for just that moment, I'd been the only one walking. Forward that is. I looked over my shoulder to see Mission, a little paler blue then normal and slowly backing up. My eyebrows raised, the gesture speaking for me.

"I think we need to get out of here." She whispered, which had me even more curious.

"Why?" Hm, couldn't hear anything from Carth and Allegra. Just where were those guys? I waved my arms out. "There's nothing here. If there was something, I would have heard it." I almost said smelt, but that was debatable with the background stench we had going here. Did Gamoreans smell like this? Is that what this is about? Not rakghouls, they smelt different. I'd been close enough to one not that long ago to know. A rotting, feral stench, raw, meaty, thick and very dirty.

I took some slow steps back, intending to turn around and keep walking once the conversation was over. "Come on."

Her hand went out towards me. Man, she looked pretty distressed about something. God knows what. "Listen. Just stop talking and listen."

"To what?"

"Jaqe shut up."

"There's. Nothing. In Here." And took one more step back.

Snap!

I froze, eyes going wide and staring ahead at Mission, who seemed to be almost mirroring my look. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Allegra's head whirl around. I slowly looked down at just what I'd stood on. Right underneath my right foot was...a bone. A half-chewed (now somewhat snapped) bone. A **big** bone, as in human thigh bone size. And there were more, several more in fact, right around me.

'_I have a very,__** very**__ bad feeling as to what this means.'_

And then, in the silence I heard something. Breathing. **Heavy** breathing, like from a very large animal. Slowly, ever so slowly, I turned around to see just what was behind me. And very nearly had a heart attack.

'_Fuck!'_

My eyes were as wide as they had ever gone, and I once again adopted a goldfish imitation. Standing scant feet from me, it's big round head (with its equally big mouth) turning towards me, was...a rancor. An honest to God rancor. Snuffling about its pile of late meals, be it half-chewed bones or mutilated corpses.

'_No! That's not supposed to be here!'_

"Crap." I half-squeaked. Someone was backing up behind me, either Allegra or Carth or both, for Mission was practically frozen to the spot near me.

The rancor's beady eyes fixed on me and then it straightened only to let out a bone chilling roar. I think somebody yelled run, I'm not sure. I was already legging it as fast I could. It may have been me. No wait, that girly scream was me.

'_A rancor! Why does it always have to be a bloody rancor!'_

Nothing, and I mean **nothing**, be it the bit out of _Return of the Jedi_, the missions in _Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy _(two, count them two!), or even KotOR itself, can compare to what these things are like in reality. The freakin' ground was shaking as it lumbered after us, it was that massive and its big clawed hands close to the ground were right within snatching range should things get too close. And though I say lumbering, it was fast. Faster than I thought something that size could go. I didn't think you could even kill this thing, it took nearly all my ammunition in _Academy_ and several attempts of "throw lightsaber" and here it took an ingested grenade.

Running was our only option.

Allegra was taking a few pot shots back at it, her much longer legs keeping her further ahead. And as I ran to keep my little behind out of devouring range, (stumbling from the shockwaves its damn steps were making I swear) I couldn't help feel a sense of déjà vu.

'_What? From playing Jedi Academy? Or...Tomb Raider.'_

It was then (once again running for my life as fast as my legs could carry me) that inspiration struck me. Outright brute force wasn't the answer to getting one up on these sorts of creatures, but cunning. And I could spot something right here over by the far wall that would do just fine.

'_I just hope that I don't get torn up and eaten in the process...'_

Gritting my teeth and stilling my doubts (as well as the insane cowardice screaming abuse that I was _actually_ serious in attempting this), I detoured from the path to safety taking a wide turn right.

"Jaqe!" Mission or I think Allegra shouted out, obviously spotting my change of course. Seeing the straggler, the rancor came right after me. Well, from what I could hear anyway, I wasn't about to stop to take a peek.

This would probably be the bravest (and also stupidest) thing I'd ever done in my life, but if it meant not having to ever worry about the intergalactic equivalent of a T-Rex afterwards then I was doing it. Apart from the obvious difference in both combat and physical training (not to mention physicality), if some treasure hunting English lady can do it, I can use such tactics to my advantage. This was brains, not brawn.

I ran faster than I've ever run before, that monster right on my tail, heart roaring in my ears, fear and adrenaline powering me along. I'd probably be going faster if the bloody armour didn't weigh so much, even stripped down.

'_Gosh darn it!'_

A torn apart piece of the wall was my destination, large spiky pieces of metal poking out from it my equivalent of the spiked rollers in the Peru level of Anniversary. Or the temple it crashes into right at the end, take your pick.

Something, I'm not 100% sure what, buried deep in my subconscious nudged in my head and I just managed to veer out of the way as the rancor went from being behind me, to in front, blocking me off from the wall.

'_Damn, this thing's smarter then I gave it credit for...faster too.'_

Of course, that stupid detour meant I was now headed in the complete wrong direction with it on my tail. Great. Just fucking peachy.

'_I am __**so**__ dead.'_

Blaster fire got my attention then, and with a roar, the rancor seemed to turn from me to spy this new target. A lanky red head...or in other words Allegra.

'_Oh so __**now**__ Revan decides it's time to save my arse...probably also convinced I'm insane...wait!'_

More shots echoed, and my foot nudged a shard of metal that clattered on the floor. A shard of a sword from an unfortunate victim? All I knew was it gave me another idea.

I took advantage of the distracted rancor to weave my way past the tail (luckily not being taken out in the process) and through its legs out to the other side, just as it roared and took a swing at Allegra. She rolled out of the way, I came tearing through and grabbing her by the arm, and tried to drag her along with me.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" she protested, wrenching her arm free

"Getting rid of this bloody thing." And with those words, pegged the metal shard at the rancor.

'_Step one. Piss it off enough all it cares about is getting us.'_

Thankfully my usually crap aiming skills didn't affect the shot and the shard embedded itself into the side of the rancor.

'_Step two...'_

"Are you..." She didn't finish as it swung at us, and instead pushed me out of the way. Stumbling, I recovered as quickly as possible and threw a second shard, which sliced across its stubby arm. It let out a bellowing roar, obviously more annoyed at the things hitting it then actually being injured and, grabbing Allegra by the arm again, I bolted.

'_...lure it to the objective by running like hell towards it.'_

"Whatever half-assed plan..."

"Just shut up and run!" I shouted at her. Surprise at my harsh outburst flickered across her face momentarily, before she freed her arm and invested her energy into running. Which to say was much faster than me.

'_Should have thought about that one earlier...'_

"Can I ask a question or will you yell at me again?" Allegra then said, raising her voice to be heard over the rancor behind us.

"Does it involve how crazy I am?"

"No."  
"By all means."

"Where are we headed?"

I nodded my head towards the wall of spiky, razor edged metal. "There."

"There?"

"There."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

"If we're not killed first."

'_Oh crap...' _Was I just about to screw up the entire game plot? Was I about to, perish the thought, kill Revan with an insane plan referenced on another video game?

'_Please God, the Force whatever, save my sorry arse and please let her live...and me. Preferably let both of us live thanks.'_

Oh wait, Lara with her superior reflexes dodged the charge from the T-rex and had it smash into the temple. What the hell was I going to do? Allegra might be able to pull off the 'adrenaline dodge' manoeuvre but I was outta luck.

'_Shit.'_

Then I spotted it. A gap underneath the spiked section of metal, just big enough to slide under the spiky bits into. Thank God for conveniently placed sliding spaces. Though it's actually the Force in this universe...

"Get ready to slide!"

"What?" She shouted, the rancor closing in.

"Under the metal stuff damn it! There's a gap!"

"Right."

We slid under just in time, and from the ugly crunch-squish I heard (and consequently winced at) the rancor hadn't been so lucky. Then I very nearly collapsed, feeling more worn out then that time I did Cross Country back at school. The muscles in my legs felt like they were burning and I was breathing so heavily from exhaustion someone could have used it in some sick porno.

"I have one thing I say." Allegra said, after a minute, both of us catching our breath (and she's the fit one!).

"Hm?"

"You. Are. **Insane**."

"It worked, didn't it?" All I got for that was an eye roll.

Crawling out from beneath cover, I got a good look at just how well my little plan had worked. Dead rancor all over the place. Okay, not literally, but the big guy was sure a mess sprawled out against all that spiky metal. Enough to make me wince at the sight.

Of course, Carth and Mission appeared soon after that, so I didn't get much time to reflect on my actions. Allegra was simply brushing herself off beside me, not even glancing towards the gigantic corpse.

"You're an idiot." Carth said, shaking his head. "A bloody lucky one, but an idiot all the same."

"Well, it's that or spur of the moment genius, wouldn't you think?" I grinned. I was too high on adrenaline and pride that the whole idea had worked not to act a little like an idiot.

He shook his head. "I think you have a death wish kid."

"Hey! I ain't a kid!" I pulled a face hearing those words coming out of my mouth, feeling a major sense of déjà vu. "I'm almost twenty, old man. And I do not have a death wish!"

"You don't _seem_ almost twenty..." Mission teased.

"Oh shut up. I am so."

"Right, yet you sound so childish saying so."

"Who's one to talk?"

"I think that's enough out of you two." Allegra interrupted. "After all that I'm not going to put up with a pair of bickering teenagers. So go ahead, kiss and make up."

"Yeah, you heard the lady Mission, stop...hey what?"

She laughed at my expression as I caught up to what she'd said, shaking her head as she picked up her blasters from where she'd abandoned them to slide under cover with me earlier. "That was worth it just for the look on your face."

"Gosh, I never knew you were so mean when I decided to tag along." _'Actually I'm glad it's this and not "let's murder you in your sleep"...' _

She flashed me a cheeky grin. "I'm mean, you're insane. Now we're even."

"All right you two, I think we should be getting back on track." Carth said, brushing something off his beloved orange jacket. "There's only so much sewer junk I can stand."

"Jealous, flyboy?" She teased, that grin still present.

Carth shifted uncomfortably. "I'd rather not stick around longer then we have to." Oooh, defensive. I'm detecting that the romance sub-plot has been initiated...

I shrugged, letting the whole thing slide for now. "So back to plan "Find Zaalbar"?"

Allegra nodded. "That's the plan."

"Right. Let's mosie on then, shall we?"

**-()-**

**Some Random: I swear this chapter is the longest yet. And I kid you not, **_**Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy **_**has two missions where you have to outrun a rancor. I've played it enough times to know. Yep, good ol' Tomb Raider: Anniversary is behind the chapter title. The rancor scene inspired that, relating it back to the T-rex "boss" fight from Anniversary. Yes, I know CPunchMaster has a rancor chase scene, but he didn't kill it, did he? Hopefully that doesn't make little ol' Jess too Mary Sue-ish, I'd kill myself if it did. O.O **

**Anyway, reviews are very nice, it makes me feel so much better writing this, and want to keep writing like I've said before. Hopefully it's all working out for people, I'm a little afraid that sometimes I'm just rambling and are way off tangent, trying to keep things a little bit to the game schedule so it's familiar but original at the same time. **

**Next: Vulkars, explosions, plot twists, oh my!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Some Random: Chapter 5 here we go! Yay for another update! (dances) Originally a lot of this was gonna be in Chapter 4, but then it got HEAPS too long then I wanted it to be, so I split the two up. Even though this one is still longer than most I've done. Oh well, as long as the length doesn't bother anybody, it's all good.**

**Thank you to everyone that has reviewed so far, I really appreciate all the feedback I'm getting. I'm really glad people like how this is going so far. :D**

**Thank you for putting up with me, it really makes my day when I get reviews for my work. Anyway, let's not dilly dally, on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KotOR, Star Wars, Yugioh Abridged, or Tomb Raider Underworld. I do own myself though, regardless of how I sold my soul for my laptop. Lucifer ain't so bad once you get to know her XD**

Chapter Five - Vulkars, explosions, plot twists, oh my!

"Oh, that was disgusting..."  
"Will you just shut up? I'm almost tempted to push you into the next puddle we come across." Mission complained.

"Shutting up..." I unstuck my loose hair from my face, only for it to flop pathetically right in my field of vision. Perfect. A frown came to my face and I brushed them aside, only for one to fall back again. Too tired to even bother trying again, I let it hang there. I wasn't the only one whose hairstyle was a mess, Carth's two trademark bangs were looking pretty worse for wear themselves, one of them half stuck to his forehead. Mission and I were keeping that one to ourselves. I'm not even sure Allegra had noticed yet.

I was a lot more used to the sewer smell by now, but that was only because I probably smelt just as bad. Covered in junk, my hair wet and disgusting (even tied back), muscles I didn't even know aching from my earlier sprint with the rancor...I could keep complaining but we'd be here forever. Truth be told, I think we were all a mess. I mean, you should just see Allegra's hair, murky red-brown instead of its usual brilliant wine-red.

'_This place is an utter shit hole...'_

"So, a local huh?" I said to Mission, changing the thread of conversation. I needed something to focus my mind on apart from stench, decay, dirty decor, sludge and the state of my clothes, armour and hair.

"Mmhm." She paused. "You never mentioned where you were from."

I went with a shrug. "The question never really came up."

"Then where _are_ you from?"

"I'm curious about that myself." Carth joined in, "You don't seem to be from Taris."

"That's because I'm not."

"Then like Mission said, where are you from?" Allegra said, speaking for both her and Carth.

'_Crap, think of a planet, think of a planet...and one that fits your accent would be good...'_

"My family used to live on Dantooine if you must know."_ 'Where are we going with this?'_

"Used to?" Mission raised an eyebrow.

'_Really, where are you going with this?'_

"I've moved around since then. Who knows if they're still there, though it's quite likely they're not."

"I see."

Hm, Dantooine. Guess that works, guess it would fit my Australian accent, what there is of that. I swear people reckon we have this "accent" and half the time nobody does. I'm sure I don't.

'_Then maybe you should have said Coruscant. And they never go there, remember?'_

Oh crap. Forgot these guys travelled to Dantooine. Great.

'_Maybe I should just say that I've moved to Coruscant. Yeah, that'll work.'_

"Dantooine. Nice." Allegra replied, before I could think of adjusting my story.  
"Nice?"

"Open country. Quiet." An odd expression passed on her face, like following a tattered string you can't find the end of nor know why you're following it. "It's...nice."

"Telos...used to be like that." Carth's voice seemed broken. "Before."

Oh man. Look what I've done. First Allegra/Revan gets all angsty, probably because she's half-remembering living on Dantooine as a kid and now Carth's all downcast because it reminds him of what Telos used to be before it got blown to shreds. Way to go Jaqe...er, Jess...me.

'_Just wait till you see Taris...but hey, I doubt this one will matter as much as Telos.'_

"I, uh, heard. About Telos." I said, looking sympathetic. "You...lived there?"

A solemn nod was all I got.

"Carth..." I would have stuck my hands in my pockets if I'd had some. "...sorry man. For what it's worth."

"Don't blame yourself kid. It was the Sith that destroyed Telos, and unless you're secretly one of them, you aren't to blame." Some of that old suspiciousness crept in to his gaze.

"I'm being completely honest with you when I say the most I've ever had to do with the Sith is to get assaulted by one and then steal his uniform once I'd knocked him out." I sighed, the sudden puff of air sending my one free set of bangs floating up. "I'm just some poor sod who's found he...himself wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He looked at me for a moment, gathered in my attempt to come clean/apologise for my earlier spazing out towards him and a small smile graced his lips.

"It's all good kid. I...just don't trust easily."

"I think I understand. You have your reasons and I shouldn't have been such an arsehole over it."

'_Hell, the bloke lost his family and was betrayed by his mentor. That'd fuck anybody up...I know I wasn't quite like I used to be after what happened with Ash. Not the same, but I know how it feels to be lied to/betrayed by someone I trusted, at least a little. I should have been nicer.' _

"Like I said, it's all good kid. We all learn from our mistakes."

"About time the two of you made up." Allegra piped in, slinging an arm over Carth's shoulders. "After all, being the only two men here, you'll need to do some male bonding." She winked.

'_Oh man...'_

"Hey, give us guys a break, will you?" Carth said, and it took me a second to realise he was looking at me.

"Uh, yeah. Freakin' too much hormones around here..." I said, trying to disregard the in-joke in her sentence. That was awkward. Even more so with the little smirk Allegra had going. I shot her a nasty glare, yet the smirk stayed.

Mission giggled. "Right, and how high pitched was that scream of yours earlier?"

"What scream?"

"Back there, with the rancor."

"That doesn't mean anything. Even guys have girly screams sometimes. It happens."

"And that hair..."

"What about my hair?" I said, getting defensive.

She laughed. "That's exactly what I meant. Very fussy over it for a guy."

"This coming from someone who doesn't have hair."

Her fingers toyed with the end of one of her lekku. "Ouch. You are getting defensive."  
"I am not getting defensive." I played around with the loose section of my hair, trying to get it to go back into place. "Especially over my hair."

"Fine then. But you're still fussing over it."

"I'm allowed to tidy it up if it's messy."

"Yes, but it always has to go a certain way. Why have you got such a long fringe anyway?"

"Because...shut up."

"All right, I think that's enough. Let's keep moving." Carth said, interrupting the two of us.

"Getting touchy because it's over hair now, hey flyboy?" Allegra teased, as we all started walking on again. "Worried those cute little bangs of yours will get drawn in?"

Cute? I'm thinking I've landed in the Carth x FemRev version of this universe, considering this and the way she treated Canderous earlier...

"I wouldn't go that far." He replied, hand moving up to his two little bangs.

"_Sure_." A pause and she smirked. "I saw that."  
"Saw what?"

"That. You're trying to fix your hair when you think we're not looking."

"I am not." He slowed down a little and ran a hand through his hair, slicking his two trademark bangs into place.

"And Mission pays me out about fussing over my hair." I teased, "Tut, Onasi, you're just as bad."

He looked at me. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side?"

"Where were you when Mission was picking on my fringe?"

"Point taken kid. I'll remember that."

"Good. And stop calling me kid." I paused, something then randomly dawning on me. "Wait...I broke my vow."

Mission looked at me oddly. "And that was not totally random."

I figured I'd better explain. "Uh, well, you see after a little stunt by the Under City elevator I pulled with the guard, I made a vow to myself that I would never attempt something crazy like that again." I took a glance back where we'd just come from. "See what I mean now?

"Yep, I think I do."

Carth raised an eyebrow. "Just what did you do?"

"Long story man, long story."

"Enough chatter guys." Allegra said, breaking us all up, "I think we might have just found our slaver camp."

I looked around Carth to notice another shut door in front of us. A bit hint that something was going on behind it that nobody wanted noticed, considering like I've mentioned most of the doors were open. With the exception of the one with the rancor, of course.

We all took defensive positions around the door, Allegra and Carth at the front of the group. I slipped my blaster out of its holster, and went to one side, as Mission took the other.

Allegra waved her hand and the door groaned open to reveal a fairly largish group of Gamoreans, who looked rather surprised to see us. I would be too, if I was running something down here nobody really knew about and all of sudden the door to your hideout was opened by a ragtag bunch consisting of a paranoid Republic solider, a witty red-haired scout/amnesiac Sith Lady, a cheeky blue Twi'lek and an almost-twenty, awkward young lady several thousand years and several thousand miles away from home. Who is also masquerading as her opposite sex...can't forget that.

They squealed/said something, I had no way of knowing what, staring at us for a second more before reaching for their weapons.

I slipped one finger over the trigger of my blaster (otherwise known as my new best friend). "Sorry guys, but all we're here for is to kick arse and drink cups of tea...damn, I'm all outta tea."

Allegra rolled her eyes and as one of the Gamoreans came at us with his axe, started shooting. Carth took up her slack, with Mission and I as backup. Well, I should say Mission, cause I spent half my time lining up a shot, only to miss, curse and try again. That, or shoot like mad and almost hit everybody.

'_You need to smarten up these skills girly.' _Level up please guys? Is that too much to ask?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of metal and a Gamorean fell into a bloody heap on the dirty floor.

'_What the...' _Then from behind the corpse Allegra emerged, now with swords in hand. Just where did those darn things come from? I don't remember seeing her carrying any melee weapons before.

I yelped as a Gamorean got a little close for comfort, taken down just before it reached me in a hail of blaster fire from Carth.

"Mind in the moment kiddo." He shouted, finishing it off with one last shot.

"Right, right..." I muttered. I had no idea where Mission was, and Allegra was simply carving her way through Gamorean after Gamorean, with her two swords.

'_Just wait till she gets a lightsaber...or two.'_

Gritting my teeth, I got back to business, just as Mission popped out of nowhere, taking out a Gamorean with a shot to the back of the head, before disappearing again. Suddenly I found myself wishing I had points invested in the stealth skill, instead of the "shoot blindly and hope you hit something like a moron" which seemed my current skill set.

'_Focus idiot!'_

And as I lined up a shot to a Gamorean charging towards me, I suddenly noticed one teeny little switch on my blaster. The safety. In the "off" position. In that one moment, my brain focused on something insignificant compared to the current situation, but no less dangerous.

'_Holy crap! You __**have**__ to be kidding me!'_ The darn safety had been off the whole time? Ever since I acquired it? I went pale at the thought that at any second I could have gotten a hole through my leg or worse. I snapped out of my shock just to see the blade of a vibro-axe coming towards me.

'_Shit!'_

I backed up, only to slip over in something on the floor and fall flat on my arse. The only good thing about that was it let me miss that first swing.

'_Shit, shit, shit.'_

The Gamorean swung again and I rolled (trying not to think just what I was rolling in) and tried to scramble to my feet. A short sword shot right past me, missing my face by a couple of hairs (part of my fringe was a tad skewed now) and impaled one of the now two Gamoreans behind me. Red screeched over my head, the second squealed its last and I collapsed back into the muck. Allegra blew a couple of her bangs out of her face, before giving me a hand up, one of her swords in the other.

"Just how have you survived this long?"

All I could do is shrug.

She surveyed the carnage as I brushed myself off and Mission was darting about the place, looking for any sign of Zaalbar.

"You okay?" Carth said to her, coming over. "Got a bit close there."

She ran a hand through her hair, getting it out of her face. "I'm good." She looked at me. "Can't say the same for Jaqe though."

I looked up. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm with Allegra on this one, just where did you learn how to fight?" Carth said.

"Uh...nowhere? If you haven't noticed, I don't exactly...fight. I just kinda...wing it."

"No kidding." Mission chipped in, looking over a rusted door nearby. "Somebody really needs to teach you how to shoot."

"And you grew up on Dantooine?" Carth added. "Sure, it's peaceful, but still no picnic."

"So I suck okay? I've never really been in a situation like this before, having to kill something before it kills me. We never really had problems with the critters back home, and I never dealt with them close up."

'_That's so much of a lie it's true. Wait, that doesn't make any sense...'_

"Don't we have better things to be doing anyway? Like, I don't know, finding where these darn slavers left Zaalbar?"

"True." Allegra looked over at Mission. "Seen anything?"

The Twi'lek shook her head, looking crestfallen. "Not yet. He's got to be here somewhere."

"Let's all spread out. Look for anything remotely like it could be used to restrain or cage a Wookie."

I gave her a mock salute. "Yes ma'am."

The four of us split up in the small area, scanning for any sign of Zaalbar. Carth and Allegra took one half of the room, while Mission and I took the other. I wandered down a small ramp into the adjoining room, figuring I'd check it out before they stumbled across Zaalbar's holding place. A few footlockers and containers were the first things I found, and I rooted through a couple, finding some useful things.

I leaned around the corner. "Hey guys, I think I found where they stashed their gear. Might be something useful here." I ducked back around for a second, opened another footlocker and then called out. "Especially this bowcaster."

"Bowcaster?" Mission walked over to where I was, in the adjoining room. "Let me look."

I gestured to the footlocker of gear I'd just been looking through. "Be my guest."

She crouched down, running her fingers over one side of the bowcaster. "It's Zaalbar's, it has to be." Getting up, she looked at me, hope in her eyes. "If that's still here then...then, he must still be here. Damn it, if only we knew where."

I leant against the wall, trying to think.

'_Wait a minute...'_ My brow furrowed and I straightened, only to turn and look at the wall.

"What?" Mission said, noticing my expression.

I took a good look at the wall I'd been leaning on and then a grin broke out on my face when I realised it wasn't a wall at all. "I think I've found something to remedy that."

She came over, and looked around me at what was now obviously a door, then pushed past me to have a look at something on about the middle of it.

"Hm, now what do we have here...a locked door right in the middle of the sewers, and in the middle of a slaver camp too." She flashed me a grin. "You're sharper then you look Jaqe. If it weren't for all the sewer crap we've all been wandering about in, I'd almost kiss you."

'_Say what now?'_

Luckily she missed the weird face I pulled, having turned around to investigate the lock further. "Uh...I think we're all good...thanks..." I coughed discreetly. "Sewer crap and all..."

'_Geez that was close...'_

She giggled. "Sure...afraid of girls, huh?"

"No. Of course not." _'I am one.' _"Anyway...this lock you found?"

"Right..."

"Mission..."  
Carth poked his head around the corner. "You two okay back there?"

Mission, done teasing me for now, looked around me. "I think we may have found something." I coughed. "Well, Jaqe found something."

Carth just raised his eyebrows at the two of us for the moment, before coming over. "What kind of something?"

"Locked door kind of something." I answered. "The locked door which could contain a captive Wookie type something."

"Can you open it?"

"You good with this kind of stuff?" I said to Mission who was still poking about the lock. "The opening locks stuff."

"Good? I'm brilliant. Well, normally."

I exchanged a look with Carth then got back to her. "What's meant by normally?"

She brushed something off her pants. "The lock used here is something a lot older then what's around the rest of the sewers, or anything around here that I've seen. Don't know if I'll be able to..."

A burst of red shot past her and hit the lock dead on, and some part of it came off.

I swallowed, recovering from shock (much like Carth and Mission) enough to look over my shoulder to see Allegra standing in the doorway, one her blasters out.

"Worked didn't it?" She grinned, showing off those dimples again. "Thought I'd take a leaf out of Jaqe's book."

I mock frowned. "I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or as paying me out, so for now I'll take it as a compliment."

She patted me on the shoulder. "You do that." She looked at the door, then at each of us. "Shall we?"

"We shall." Mission and I echoed, Carth looking at us weirdly.

Allegra raised her blaster and shot the lock on the door once more. The mechanism gave way and tumbled to the ground, the door opening now that it wasn't secured with its security device.

Looked like we were in luck too. Hunched over in a space that looked a hell of a lot smaller and dirtier than the one in the game, was Zaalbar. Well, unless the Gamoreans had other Wookies hiding around here somewhere we didn't know about...anyway, back to what's going on.

I bit my lip as I got a good look at the Wookie. If I thought we stank and looked bad, well, we had nothing on Zaalbar. Being starved and locked up was an understatement to his condition.

"Damn." Was all I could think to say.

"Big Z?" Mission said.

The Wookie growled something promising at her and from the smile on her face, things were looking up. He stood up (though a little slouched over from the height of the ceiling) walked slowly over to us, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light. Didn't blame him, it looked pretty dank and dark in there. His fur looked like it had seen better days and...yep, ugh, disgustingly wet too, from the fact he just shook himself off much like a dog. Thank God I was just far enough away not to get hit by any of it. And as he stepped out of the small room and into our much larger one, I got a good look at just how tall Wookie's really were.

'_Holy shit...I feel like a darn midget standing here.'_

"Damn it big fella, I thought I was never gonna see you again." Mission said, looking a lot happier now that she had her Wookie buddy back.

Zaalbar growled/barked/said something back and I pursed my lips together, feeling lost.

'_Somebody say, language barrier?'_ What was the Wookie language called again? Something with duplicate letters like their home world, Kashyyyk. Shyriiwook or something equally ridiculous sounding.

I took Allegra's little conversation with Zaalbar as an opportunity to take a breather, having no chance at understanding anything that came out of the Wookie's mouth without the handy subtitles Bioware gave you in the game. Leaning against a nearby wall, (I was too much of a mess already to care just how dirty it was) I closed my eyes and relaxed as best I could. Besides, I kinda knew what was going on anyway, so it's not like I was missing much.

"I'm Allegra. The guy in the orange jacket over there is Carth and the one slacking off over on that wall is Jaqe."

"So not slacking off." I said, barely moving. "Yeah, that's right. I heard ya."

Someone poked me in the ribs and I opened my eyes to see it was Mission. How she'd gotten from over by Zaalbar to me in the space of a few seconds without me even hearing was beyond me.

"What was that for?"

"Wake up sunshine."

I poked my tongue at her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Some guy you are."

My eyebrows rose. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

My eyebrows stayed up. However, Allegra and Zaalbar were still talking, from the noise I could hear.

"A...life debt?" Allegra said, looking quite surprised. "I mean...well..."

"A life debt? You sure Big Z?" Mission then said to her Wookie friend, leaving me alone. "A life debt is the most solemn vow a Wookie can make. Zaalbar will follow you wherever you go, no matter what you do."

'_Sounds like a loophole for a Dark Side Revan there, me thinks...' _However, Allegra's Light...right?

More barks and growls. Man, I could really do with a translator right about now. Though from the look on Carth's face, he could too.

"You getting any of this?" I whispered to him. He gave me one of those looks, the "You kidding?" type. All the answer I needed really.

"Thanks." Allegra said, still a little stunned. "I'm... truly honoured."

"Looks like I'm sticking with you guys too. Where Big Z goes, so do I." Mission said. "Plus, someone's gotta cover Jaqe's arse."

"Hey!" I said. "What is this, pick on the somewhat less talented fighter day?"

Zaalbar said something, and Mission rolled her eyes. "Wait till you see him in action Big Z. Can lure a rancor to its own doom, but can't shot straight to save his life."

I crossed my arms over my chest, frowning. "I'm standing right here you know..."

"Yep."

"If I had a hammer..."

She rolled her eyes. "Geez, the things you say sometimes, boyo, I don't know what to think of you."

"Well I know I'd welcome the help." Allegra said getting back to the original train of conversation, sparing a glance at Carth. "Onasi?"

"As long as she knows what she's getting into." He replied.

"Hey, I know what you guys get into is no walk in the park, but I can handle myself." Mission said. "Right Big Z?" More Wookie speak from Zaalbar, which I guessed was his answer to that.

"All right then." Allegra looked at me. "Ready Jaqe?"  
I straightened off the wall and stretched, not before making sure my blaster actually had the safety on this time. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Good. Now that that's all settled, let's move. We've got a Vulkar base to break into and an accelerator to recover."

**-()-**

Getting into the Vulkar base had been surprisingly easy. Finding the accelerator...not so much.

And as Carth and Allegra argued over where to look next, while Mission, Zaalbar and I watched, I decided I'd had enough.

"I don't know, maybe check the _garage_?" I suggested. "Seems the most likely place to look for swoop parts are where they keep the swoops wouldn't ya think?" Of course, I already knew that's where the darn thing would be, but I wasn't about to say that out loud, was I? Carth would have a fit, and start waving his blasters around at me, spouting something about spies. Maybe not that extreme, but I couldn't be _that_ far off. Though why I didn't subtly bring it up earlier is beyond me...

"She does have a point." Allegra said. Did Carth just twitch? I swear I saw Carth twitch. I almost wanted to burst out laughing at the sheer insanity of it.

'_Must still think I'm crazy after that stunt I pulled with the rancor...'_

"Right." He said. "What if we split up?"

"I'm listening."

Split up? Did they not see just how epically I failed in our battle against the Gamoreans? Wait, is Carth looking in my direction? Great. They certainly do know how epically I failed in our battle against the Gamoreans.

"All right." Allegra looked at Mission, Zaalbar and I. Obviously her and Carth had been talking more about their splitting up plan while I'd been off thinking. "Carth and I will check out the garage. You three keep an eye out up here for any trouble."

"I can handle that." I said, "What do ya think guys?"

Zaalbar growled something I believed was an affirmative, but then again I had no real way of knowing for certain.

Mission nodded. "Someone's gotta watch Jaqe's back. And front. And every direction around him."  
"Mission, you are so mean." I said, giving her the evil eye. "One of these days, you are going straight to hell."

Zaalbar batted me on the shoulder (probably in a gesture of reassurance or something I wasn't sure) with that huge great paw of his and if it had been anyone else, I probably would have stayed standing. As it was, I lost balance and fell onto the floor, much to Mission's amusement. From the floor, I sighed.

'_This is going to be a long day.'_

**-()-**

My yawn echoed in the empty room, the metal walls adding to the effect. "What's taking them so long? How hard is it to snatch up the thing and go?"

Mission shrugged, sitting up on a container near me, the gesture an answer in itself.

'_I'm sure it didn't take this long in the game, fight with Brejik's lackeys or no...'_

"Maybe they ran into trouble..." I mused, scuffing my feet "...or got lost. Or maybe it's not there after all." I shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Mm." Her legs swung back and forth in the air. "So if I've got this right, you three are searching for some woman named Bastila?"

"Well, Carth and Allegra are, I just tagged along to help. And Bastila's not just..."

"...any ordinary person, but a Jedi and a super special one to boot. Yeah, I got that speech, trudging through sewers of all times."

I grinned, aiming to make some comment of my own. I never got the chance.

I instinctively ducked as a shot ricocheted above my head and scrambled for cover, Mission and Zaalbar having the same idea as a group of Vulkars came careening around the corner. We were outnumbered at least seven to three...whoops, two. I could barely count myself in that, considering how things had fared so far on my part. Sure, I'd killed a rancor, but that was with brains and not brawn. Cowering behind makeshift cover seemed the extent of my abilities at the current moment. And I mean makeshift; I flinched every time a bolt hit the stack of containers I was hidden behind, Mission parallel to me behind some more.

Slipping my blaster out from its holster, I switched off the safety (it was still mind boggling the fact I'd left it on for so long earlier) and tried to take aim from behind cover. A lot harder than it sounds, especially with my suck-tastic skills. Blaster bolts hit the containers right near my head each time I tried to poke out to take a shot. One nearly took out my hand. I gave up after several failed attempts. This was starting to be **way** out of my league.

'_Come on, come on! Think of something!' _They had us pinned down here, for sure, but there had to be another way. A way to get around them, a way to...my gaze stopped on something that sparked an idea. An insanely crazy idea once again spawned off a scene out of a video game, much like with the rancor, only crazier.

I judged the distance from my spot and the barrels, then from the Vulkars to the barrels. Well, I say barrels. They at least looked like the intergalactic version of explosive barrels.

'_Lara, I rely upon an incident in your antics once again. Let's just hope this doesn't kill me...again...' _Time to teach those Vulkars just what, "Warning, flammable" means. Sure it wasn't going to be exactly what happened in Underworld, but close enough.

"Mission."

She looked over at me. "Yeah?"

"In just a second, you're going to have an opening. I suggest you take it, but if you see sparks, or any sign of flame, hell, any sign of an incoming explosion, get down."

"What?"

"Just trust me."

"What are you...?"

I didn't hear her finish, I don't even know if she did. I was already off and running. The Vulkars, seeing a target out of cover, started firing at me just like I knew they would.

'_That's right boys, but you're gonna regret that in a minute.'_

The blur of reddish orange near them was my goal. My feet stumbled across the metal floor as shots rang out around me, but I stayed on target. I think I heard one laugh and smirked.

'_Oh I'll be laughing soon...'_

Not far now...my arm recoiled as one blaster bolt glanced off my armour at my shoulder. And it didn't half hurt either. Gritting my teeth, I made it to the barrels, just as one of them shot towards me again. It rang wide, just missing both me and the barrels. Luck held out on the next one.

The very second I saw a spark from one of the barrels, I dove for cover. Just in time for hell to reign loose behind me. The explosion was deafening, I could feel the heat of the fireball even cowering behind cover with my arms covering my face. Metal crashed onto the floor, probably panelling or something, I wasn't sure. And the screams. The screams were something else.

Seconds passed, then silence. My ragged breathing and heartbeat filled it for me, and then, the growling of a Wookie. I stayed still for a moment, taking the time to let what had just happened sink in.

'_Oh my God...'_

I'd known it was going to kill them, had from the very start. What's the point in causing an explosion if you think it won't kill anybody? The point was to kill them, to get rid of them. But the experience rattled me regardless. The rancor or the rakghouls had been nothing compared to this. These had been people, not beasts. Even the Gamoreans didn't register in this scale, and I hadn't actually managed to kill any of them.

Composing myself as best I could, I staggered out and took in the sight before me. Half-charred corpses, some still smouldering, blackened shards of metal, a few spot fires that would soon burn out. I almost threw up, feeling sicker then that time I'd gotten drunk at a friend's housewarming, looking at the barely recognisable as human or alien remains.

I licked my dry lips, stomach twisting into knots. _'I did that...not directly, but still. I caused this...'_

Footfalls sounded around the corner again, and all three of us turned at the sound, weapons drawn. Only to see a familiar head of red hair and a bright orange jacketed pilot.

Allegra surveyed the carnage and raised an eyebrow. "Dare I ask?"

I exchanged a look with Mission, and then looked back at her. "If you feel so inclined. My ego can take it."

"So I take it this is your doing?"

"Well...you could say that. Or..." I smirked, if somewhat half-heartedly. "...you could say the Vulkars were stupid enough to shoot at someone darting about explosive barrels. So much so they exploded them on themselves."

Her eyebrow stayed up. "Is that so?"

Mission nodded, and Zaalbar said something. I still had no idea what all that barking and growling meant.

"Did you find the accelerator?" She asked.

"Sure did." Carth said. "Not without a few...complications."

They kept talking, I could hear them, just not the actual words, stuck in a daze.

'_I killed someone. I actually killed someone. More than one.' _I looked down at my hands, visibly shaking, and tried to take a deep breath to calm myself. It came out just as shaky. Thankfully I figure my armour absorbed much of the damage as there was little more than a dull ache in my shoulder from where the blaster bolt had connected earlier.

"You all right kid?"

I looked up, seeing that they were all looking at me, not entirely sure who had asked about my well being (it sounded like Carth so probably him) and I did my best to pull a brave face. "Just...just recovering." I swallowed, to stop my voice making things so obvious through its shaking. "It was...one hell of an explosion before."

"I'll bet." Carth said. "Looks like at least two or three plasma containers. The firestorm would have been something."

"Sounded like it." Mission piped up. Zaalbar growled something at her. "You should have seen the last crazy stunt he pulled Big Z."

I looked away, I didn't want to see anymore. _'Yeah, well my brains killed almost a dozen people. It doesn't exactly make me feel any better even if they were trying to kill me.'_

There was a gentle weight on my shoulder and I looked up to see Allegra near me, her hand on my shoulder.

"They left you no choice." She said quietly. "It was self defence. They came here with the intention of killing the three of you, and you did what you had to survive."

"I guess." Still didn't make it feel any better though. I mean, I'm not a killer or even a fighter for that matter. I'm just some crazy wannabe-writer that dabbles in gaming. Only harm I've ever done to someone is go on a murderous rampage through a virtual world for the sake of upgrading a sword (Fable 3 if you must ask), no actual real life murder involved.

"It'll get easier, that much I can say. I've been around this galaxy enough to know. But I guess feeling something means you still have a conscience, right?"

I nodded slowly. "I just want to get out of here." I could almost hear the double meaning in my words. I just wanted to leave Taris and this world far behind me right now. It was fine for her to say it would get easier, she was Revan. I hate to think just how many bodies she's left behind.

'_But you know she's right. It was self defence. You did it because you had to.'_

She looked at me for a moment, sympathy in those silvery-blue eyes before she turned away.

"Let's get outta here before anyone else shows up." A small smile. "Hey, we can even use the front door this time, instead of milling about the sewers." Another glance at me, with that smile, probably trying to lighten the mood to make me feel better.

I managed a smile, if for her benefit. "No stench."

"That's the spirit."

'_That's what you think sweetie.'_

Things were going to be a lot more complicated.

**-()-**

The Hidden Bek base was a little bigger and a lot messier then I ever remembered it being, but by now I was quite used to things either not going how I'd exactly expected them to, or being completely out of place. Actually, that's more or less the same thing. Let's just say the rancor was big slap to the face that things were definitely **not** exactly the same.

Anyway, following Allegra and Carth over to Gadon's desk, I couldn't help but be somewhat curious over our reception. Sure, he'd seen those two and Mission and Zaalbar before, but I was the unknown variable in all this. No doubt I was simply paranoid, but even from here I could see the glances that bodyguard was throwing my way. In its current, er, state my stolen Sith armour wasn't so obvious, but even then I hoped it didn't have them putting two and two together and getting six, if you catch my drift.

'_They'd think twice on that conclusion in the ensuing fire fight from your obvious lack of combat prowess...'_ Where was a lovely little level up or two when I needed one? Honestly, reality really needs to rethink its priorities regarding that. Oh and I was _still_ masquerading as my opposite gender, which was starting to get tedious. Plus I can just _imagine_ the fit Carth was going to have when he found out I'm female. I'd rather not have that just yet, especially after the mess we'd just been through.

"You're back." Gadon said to Allegra as we approached. "Dare I assume you successfully acquired the accelerator?"

Allegra hefted the thing onto his desk as gently as possible, though it still made a noticeable clunk. Looked like a piece of crap if you ask me. "This look like success to you?"

The man smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. Speaking of those, they were starting to give me the creeps. In the game, they just made his eyes look a little glazed and coloured white/silver-blue, here they were...different. You could almost immediately pick out the implants, it was rather unnerving.

His smile seemed to diminish when he noticed me though. "And who's this young friend of yours? I don't recall ever seeing him before."

Took me a second to find the gender reference in the sentence but by now, I was starting to get pretty tired of pretending to be male.  
"_He_ is standing right here and _his_ name is Jaqe." I said, probably a little too harshly, feeling tired, sore and dirty. Hm that actually sounds quite, er, suspect if you really think about it.

Gadon raised an eyebrow. "I see." He gave me a once over. "You must be the kid that pulled that trick on the Sith soldier over by the elevator earlier. Red shirt, silver and black armour much like the Sith's." He squinted at my filthy, scuffed and covered in who knows what else armour. "I'm willing to bet that that **is** Sith armour." Those creepy eyes met me dead on and I flinched.

"Eh...it might be..." They stayed fixed on me. "I...er...stole it, if that's what you're asking."

An eyebrow raise. "Stole it?"

A slow nod. I really wasn't liking this conversation. Too confronting. I was trying to blend in more for cripes sake.

"You could also say that, er, the Sith are probably looking for someone wearing red shirt much like this one in the Upper City..." Technically a young woman in this shirt, but I wasn't getting rid of the gender subplot quite yet.

Thankfully, he gave me that same smile he'd given Allegra. "Well, an enemy of the Sith is a friend of mine I suppose. And it looks like you had a hand in acquiring our accelerator."

Actually I was about as useful as a drunk in a sobriety contest, but hey...

"Gadon." His bodyguard, the purple Twi'lek I can't for the life of me remember the name of at this moment, it seemed wasn't about to let me go so easily. "How do we know the Sith didn't just **give** him the uniform?"

I rolled my eyes. "Do I **look** like a Sith spy to you?" Probably not the smartest thing to say to an overly cautious armed Twi'lek, but hey, it had already been done. "I don't make a habit of punching myself in the face thank you very much."

"I very much doubt this young man is involved with the Sith. A Sith spy would have had papers to get to the Under City elevator, instead of..." He glanced at me. "Hijacking it, for lack of a better word."

I crossed my arms over my chest, almost forgetting not to pull the very girly hip cocking manoeuvre. "Yeah, yeah. It wasn't the brightest plan, but it worked."

"Much like those other plans of yours." Carth muttered and I glared at him.

"I will say again, at least they worked. Insane or otherwise."

Man, I was getting braver by the minute. This was a weird occurrence, I can tell you. Normally I'm real shy and cowardly. Except for in familiar company. Then I tend to open up and go a little crazy.

Zhaedra (finally remembered her name) glared at me for a minute, before appearing to back down. I say appearing as she still had a nice grip on that blaster at hers, angled just in my direction.

"Now," Allegra was saying "about your end of the bargain?"

"Don't worry, I'm a man of my word, the Hidden Beks will sponsor you in the race. I'm even going one step further."

One of Allegra's eyebrows went skyward. "How so?"  
"I'm going to let you ride the swoop with the prototype accelerator."

You know, from the look on her face, Miss "I've been around the galaxy and then some" doesn't seem to find the idea of her driving the swoop all that fun.

"Me?" she repeated, pointing at herself as if we needed the emphasis. "I've never driven a swoop in my life."

It's not like I'm going to do it, besides, who else do we have? Oh wait, Carth. But he doesn't have latent Force powers to help him unlike you Madam Amnesiac Revan...

"I will be honest with you." Gadon said, Allegra still looking surprised over the fact she'd be the one driving. "There is a chance the accelerator could overheat and explode during the race. I can't ask one of my own riders to take such a risk."

"Great." Allegra rubbed the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "Just peachy." She sighed. "All right. It's not like we're overflowing with options. I'll do it."

'_Woman's got guts.'_ I thought, watching the exchange between her and Gadon. _'Then again, she is secretly Revan...' _

"We'll start practice first thing tomorrow morning. I suggest you get some rest and clean up before then."

Allegra nodded. "I could do with a decent shower right about now."

"Oh hell yes." I said. Minute I could find one I was stripping off faster than you could say "Holy cow she's naked!" Perverts beware.

"I think we all could."

**-()-**

'_Must. Clean. Hair.'_

I ran my fingers through my hair multiple times under the spray, determined to get most if not all the junk from trudging through the sewers out of it. A girl's gotta be vain about one thing about her, and for me, it was definitely my hair. Thankfully, my ministrations and the hot shower seemed to be working wonders. I will admit I am quite picky when it comes to showers. Decent spray, decent temperature and I'm one happy little lady. Trust me, after lukewarm/cold showers on a Geography camp from the first group using up half the hot water, and shoddy, barely there shower spray in hotels, I'm bound to be a little testy. I was surprised that the Bek base _had_ a decent shower, but I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth now was I?

A contented sigh left me as I ran my fingers through my hair one last time, enjoying the simple luxury of a decent shower. And boy had I needed one. Standing under the spray, I closed my eyes, content to just feel the warm/hot water caressing my skin and to forget for a moment all the current drama.

"Gah!"

Of course, that was until the hot water ran out. Time to get out of the shower I guess.

'_And just when I was enjoying it to, darn it.'_

Turning off the water, I hopped out and found my towel. It didn't help the thing only just went around me once, and barely covered my thighs. There was no way I was sprinting back to my room in this scrap of fabric. I spared a thought for poor Allegra, who was taller then I was.

'_They really need to get decent towels around here...'_

I set about drying off and getting dressed. Thankfully, the only things that had actually been soaked from sewer water and all that, had been the underclothes for the armour, and my clothes from home were safe and dry in my bag. So I'd left my little black skivvy top and pants ensemble to dry in my room with my armour, shirt and other accessories, leaving me with my jeans and singlet. Oh and underpants. I'd had a little panic attack over them. Being the only pair I had, it wasn't an entirely irrational panic attack. Both them and my bindings were thankfully dry as well.

I was just in the middle of wrapping my bindings around my chest when the worst possible person walked into the refresher room.

"It's about time you finished, Mission was complaining about guys and shower le..." Carth trailed off, as he noticed both my state of dress and just what was in my hands. As for me, well, I wasn't doing much more than a goldfish impression at the intrusion.

'_Shit.'_

Of course, next thing I knew, he had drawn his blasters and was pointing them threateningly towards me.

"I can explain!"

"You can explain when I see your hands in the air!"

"I can't!"

"Hands up!"  
"I. Can't." I gestured vaguely to just what my other hand was holding up, which if I let go of, could make this situation much more awkward then it already was. "Damn it Carth, do you **really** want to see me topless?"

"What's going on in here?" Crap, not Mission too. She turned the corner and looked very surprised at the scene in front of her. Me, in little more than my jeans and bindings and Carth waving his blasters threateningly in my direction. Both trying to keep an eye on me and trying not to look at certain parts of me at the same time.

"Jaqe's...really a girl?"

"I think that's already _glaringly_ obvious..." I once again gestured to the bindings with my free hand.

"Hm, figures."

My mouth dropped open once again. "What do you mean, "hm, figures"?"

She shrugged. "You didn't exactly act like a proper guy. Not that all this gender bending matters much to me anyway, whatever floats your point." She gave me a pointed look. "But you **could** have let me in on it at least."

"Gender bending? It was a disguise and the point isn't to tell everyone..."

"Enough." Carth jabbed his blasters towards me again. "Just how much of what you've told us about yourself is true?" Crap. And straight to the point too.

"How about we let me put a shirt on first before the interrogation begins?" I snapped, feeling annoyed that because one thing unravels he figures the rest isn't right either. And being caught in the bathroom half-naked might have had something to do with it too...

"I hear shouting, what's going on?" Great. Now Allegra has turned up. Anyone else we want to add to this party? I can only take so many people staring at me half-naked in a bathroom...

"Oh." She stood inside with the other two, with her lips in a little pout one finger sitting on them, saying nothing more.

"Can we all stop **staring** at me now? All this voyeurism is starting to get real old, real fast." I glared at them all, really not in the mood.

One unimpressed look was sent my way from Carth, the expression speaking for itself.

"Hey, it ain't all my fault you figured I was male, because I'm dressed like I am. Sure, I could have said something, but that wasn't quite on the agenda and I had my reasons for it. I just went along with your assumptions, there's nothing overtly malicious in that, right?"

The look stayed.

I sighed. "_Fine_. My name isn't really Jaqe, but Jess and if you haven't figured it out now, I'm female." I looked at Carth. "Happy now?"

"I could have done with all of that beforehand."

"Yeah well, I don't exactly make a habit of masquerading as a guy. Only after...well, I'll keep that to myself won't I?"

He glared at me and in that second I realise being a smartass was not good around the paranoid pilot.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

I crossed my arms over my chest as best I could. "What did it look like I was wearing again, _Onasi_?" A pause and I stared him down, figuratively speaking as height restricted such a thing being literal.

Silence stretched between us, and while I probably looked strong, inside it was a different story. While I can be a bit too much of a smartass for my own good, challenging someone openly like that was not my style. "All I lied about was my name and my gender Carth. Everything else is true."

'_And I just lied to them again. Great. Another strike on my conscience.' _Lying about lying, who would have thought it?

I sighed, figuring things wouldn't get anywhere until I explained my motives. And frankly I was sick to death with being labelled untrustworthy by him. Even though I didn't exactly blame him for it. "I did mention I stole this uniform, remember? I just toyed around with a few things so instead of running around looking like the young woman in the red shirt that the Sith are looking for, I'm a young man in a red shirt with armour who could easily be mistaken as a mercenary by some people. I didn't exactly want to be arrested."

"I think she's telling the truth Carth." Allegra came to my defence.

"I am. Look, it was a stupid thing for me to do in the first place and I'm sorry. I should have told you."

He sighed, holstered his blasters and then after a moment looked at me again. Well, around me more like, considering my state of dress. "It's all right kid. I guess I understand now. Sorry for...reacting like I did."

"Apology accepted Carth." I held my hands out in a gesture of peace, and a cheeky grin came to my face. "I'll let you off this time old man. I hope you can forgive me for acting like I have." Hopefully it wasn't too soon for jokes...

The ghost of a smile came to his face. "I forgive you this time, scamp."

I managed one myself. "That's better. Although next time I could do without the busting in when I'm half-naked part. A girl's gotta have some sensibilities."

"Speaking of half-naked, all you skedaddle now." Allegra said. "I don't particularly want to be the next one in line for the indecency act we've got going, and it's my turn to shower now."

Mission and I exchanged a look that expressed just how keen we were on such a thing. In other words, seeing her naked was not on our list of priorities. Carth coughed and turned his head.

"Right. I'll...go. Get some rest."

I couldn't help but grin like the cat that got the canary. And from the look on Mission's face, she was thinking the same thing. Allegra just raised an eyebrow at the two of us as Carth made his exit.

"Oh right..."

"Sorry." Mission said. "I'll go now. Probably should check on Zaalbar."

"You do that Mish."

"Right. See you girls later."

Allegra looked at me, still standing there half-dressed. "Well?"

"Um...one thing."

"Yes?"

"Can I, uh..." I gestured towards my half done bindings. "...finish up first?"

She sighed. "Need a hand?"

I tried and failed to stop myself pulling the shifty eyes expression. "Um...maybe."

A minute or so later, I was on my way back to my room. As I crashed on my bed in my jeans and singlet, I spared a thought about how I still had my bindings on but considering how tired I actually was, I couldn't give a damn. Normally after a shower I feel more rejuvenated, but all I could think about now was getting some sleep. And so sleep I did.

**-()-**

'_Wait, this isn't right...'_

I sat up on the bed, slowly recognising the room as being the same one I'd left that Sith soldier in after I'd stolen his uniform. And I was still in my old clothes. Did that mean...fuck. Had I fallen asleep here and imagined all that had just happened?

'_Shit, shit, shit...'_

Standing, I tore through the apartment building, praying I was wrong, yet emerged from it smack bang in Upper City.

'_No!'_

This is exactly what I hadn't wanted to happen. How the hell was I going to get off now? Wait, maybe things can still work, maybe I can still find Revan, I mean Allegra.

'_How do you even know for sure that's really who Revan is? You don't even know how long you were asleep, they could already be halfway to Davik's, anywhere really...'_

I buried my face in my hands, uncaring of who was watching. I wanted to scream. I wanted to collapse hopelessly in the middle of the street, race about like a mad woman, break into hysterics, I wasn't sure which.

Something nudged my shoulder, but I couldn't care less. I was going to die. I wasn't even going to make it to my twentieth birthday, killed in the world of video game.

'_All of this is absolutely insane.'_

"What do you want from me?" I screamed at the sky, cracking already. "Why did you send me here?"

A scream broke through, followed by another and I was knocked to the ground as a bunch of people raced past.

'_What the hell?' _ I scrambled to my feet just in time to avoid being trampled by a stampede of Tarisians, utterly confused. And then a red flash and the part of the walkway just metres from me exploded. My mouth fell open, my eyes went wider than they've ever been before. A group of civilians disintegrated as another blast hit, taking out the street with them. More screaming.

'_NO!'_

I tripped over my own feet, before taking off in a dead run, the truth of what was happening dawning on me. The Sith were bombing the planet. The planet I was still on. I ran, faster then I'd ever run before. The shockwaves nearly sent me sprawling with every blast yet I kept going. Running with nowhere to run to. Nowhere to hide. Screaming and explosions loud in my ears. My heart feeling like it could rip its way out my chest. Adrenaline soaring through my veins. The walkway ahead exploded and I skidded, falling back with the rest of my momentum. Scrambling back up only to see a burst of red seconds from impact.

I closed my eyes and...nothing.

One rapid heartbeat. Two. Still nothing. And silence, except for my ragged breathing.

Slowly, I cracked one eye open, followed by the other. In front of me, people frozen in place. Screaming. Praying. Begging. Huddling together as the end came. Running for their lives. Buildings in the middle of falling to pieces. The street frozen in its destruction, pieces floating in mid air.

I straightened slowly, dumbstruck.

"What the..."

"...hell?" A voice broke the eerie silence and I jumped, nearly falling over in shock. A figure emerged then, from behind a floating piece of debris. Her hand just nudged it aside like someone would the branch of a tree. My heart picked up. She (somehow I just knew) was about my height, clad all in black, wearing a hooded cloak that obscured most of her face.

"Evening." She greeted calmly, as if we weren't standing in the middle of the destruction of Taris. I blinked, saying nothing. She laughed then, cold, nonchalant. I started slowly backing up, not wanting to be anywhere near this apparition, goose bumps rising on my arms.

"You asked didn't you?"

I stopped. Stared at this mystery figure. "What?"

A condescending smile I could just see. "You asked. Why you were sent here. What was expected from you."

I swallowed, more on edge then I'd felt the night with all the voices. The night I left home and woke up here. "I suppose you're here to elaborate then."

The smile stayed. "Such astounding powers of deduction you possess." Nothing about her tone, sarcastic or otherwise, was even remotely relaxing. It was nothing in her clothes, or her physical form that was responsible for my gut-churning fear. Her voice seemed to echo in this suspended moment, cold and sinister, and shadows seemed to collect around her, her cloak wisping in an invisible wind. The cosmos' big obvious "this is dangerous" sign I guess.

"Who are you?"

She laughed again, a soft chuckle. I still didn't know how I knew this, _thing_, was a she before I'd even taken a cursory look, and it creeped me out to no end.

"Who am I?" Unseen eyes pinned me with their gaze. "You'll find out soon enough. For now, let's just say we'll become familiar with each other in time." A smirk. "_Very_ familiar."

'_I don't like this...'_

She moved then, slowly walking past the hovering debris. "My masters thought it best for at least one meeting before..." Another soft chuckle. "...well, that would be spoilers, wouldn't it?"

"Oh yes, and we all know how I _hate_ spoilers..." I said, but even my sarcasm came out shaky.

'_Not liking this in the slightest.'_

"So is this real, or just a dream? I'd like to know if I'm going to die once our little meeting is over."

"It _could _be real...and it will happen. Whether or not you'll be here when it happens..." Her fingers ran gently along a piece of floating metal. "...is based entirely on your choices." Her head turned towards me once more. "So you better make the right ones, no?"

"We seem to be _forgetting_ the small detail that I wasn't supposed to _be___here in the first place. And just how and why I'm even here."

"True enough, I suppose." Her fingers toyed with the end of her hair, black with red streaks. Strangely familiar. I was getting a weird sense of familiarity with her in general, yet I couldn't place why.

'_Weird.'_

"Isn't this the part where you, mystery figure appearing from the ether, tell me just what mystical force is behind my appearance in this reality?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "If you won't tell me who you are, you can at least tell me that."

Another condescending smile. "I guess." She mirrored my stance.

"Well?"

"You've probably heard of it, being well acquainted with this, _reality_."

My brow furrowed. "Is that cryptic talk for 'the Force'?"

"Nothing so neutral, as that."

"What then?"

A particularly malicious smirk. "The Dark Side."

I nearly burst out laughing. "You're kidding me?"

My apparent lack of faith seemed to anger her, from the sharp edge to her next words. "I am perfectly serious."

"Yeah, I bet you are." I pulled one of my own mocking smirks. "And I bet you have tea parties with demons and frolic in the moonlight with malevolent spirits."

Her lips were a thin, hard line. "I wouldn't be so foolish as to mock the very forces behind your current situation."

"Oh, how foolhardy of me to mock mythical forces." I said sarcastically, "Whatever will I do when they turn their evil wrath upon me?" Knowing this was little more than a dream had given me a massive boost in confidence, and with it, my inherent smart arse tendencies. The Dark Side? Puleze.

I think her eyes narrowed. I wasn't too sure, considering I couldn't actually see them. "Regardless of what you believe, I have answered your question."  
"Not really, but whatever floats your boat."

"Masters give me strength to deal with such an insolent child." She muttered under her breath, crossing her arms across her chest again, as if to keep her hands contained.

'_Maybe I should back off, just a little...'_

"Still doesn't answer the why question though."

"That should be obvious."

"Right, the Sith win the war? Death or conversion of the Jedi, the Light Side loses? Come on, give me some specifics. Not that any of that has anything to do with me."

"You know what everything hinges on, on the outcomes of her choices."

Her? Wait... "Revan? What do you want with Revan? And what of me?"

Her smile was very unnerving. "Spoilers."

Oookay. That wasn't the slightest bit creepy at all. "So all this has something to do with Revan and somehow I'm involved with that?"

"She catches on quick."

I frowned. "You didn't exactly make it obvious."

"Blunt and forceful methods are so, _boring_. Subterfuge..." The air seemed to drop a few degrees and the shadows lengthened. "...is infinitely more interesting."

"_You will walk with us, you __**will**__ join us. You can hide from the dark, slave but there are always shadows."_

Did I say I got my confidence back? I think it's leaving now...everything's becoming all creepy again. Especially now that the voices are back.

I jumped, almost certain something unseen had just touched me. "What...was that?"

That creepy smile was still on her face. "The darkness is everywhere, you cannot escape it. This is destiny."

"_You __**will**__ walk our path. The Darkness __**will**__ come. It __**will**__ return. And a new Order will rise from the weakness of the old."_

Was it just me, or did everything seem to be getting darker? I couldn't even really see Taris anymore. Mystery Lady took a few steps closer to me and I retreated, only to stop as something else slipped past me. A whisper of fingers against my arm and I panicked, drawing it away.

"What...what..." This was much scarier than before.

"This...is destiny."

Then the blackness surrounded me, confining and suffocating. The gentle touch of cold fingers against my skin and...

**-()-**

**Some Random: Cliff hanger ending! . Don't worry, you'll find out just what's going on beginning of next chappie, which will be coming very, very soon. I'll try not to leave you guys hanging out on limb...for that long. (evil laugh) Ahem. As for Miss Mystery Figure and all that comes with her... (smirks) well, her part in the story is yet to really come around, so hold out folks!**

**Well, that's enough from me, on to chapter 6, where we finally get to the swoop race and little ol' Basty!**

**Next: One swoop race, plus a snooty Jedi, equals...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Some Random: Hm, 20 reviews so far for like 5 chapters, not bad, not bad. They seem to be getting longer (chapters that is) too. Thanks to everyone that did review, it really makes my day guys. I probably would have gotten this up sooner, but my laptop and life didn't quite see things the same way. Don't know about the quality, but hey, that's for you guys to decide. That over with, time to roll on to the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Bioware owns KotOR and George Lucas owns Star Wars. Me, well, I own myself and all stupidity/weirdness that accompanies her.**

**-()-**

Chapter Six - One swoop race plus a snooty Jedi, equals...

I bolted awake, breathing ragged, my heart hammering in my chest and a scream lodged in my throat.

'_That was some dream.' _I shivered. I could still feel those ghostly cold fingers and my skin crawled at the memory. _'And this is why I __**never**__ watch horror movies.'_

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, and ran my fingers through my messy hair, staring at the grey metal floor as I tried to make sense of things.

'_If I'm to believe any of that, it means that whatever reason I've been brought here for, isn't the normal, happy, shiny, conscience loving sort but something much more sinister.'_

I sat still in my empty room, listening to sound of my breathing and the hum of some sort of machinery not too far off.

'_But it's just too unbelievable to be true. The Dark Side wants me, whose biggest crime is killing NPC's in Fable 3, to do...something, involving Revan, and somehow I don't think it's attending a tea party. Corrupting Revan? And what's with Miss Shadowy Figure? What's her role in all this?' _I scrubbed my face with my hands, getting nowhere. With a sigh, I flopped back onto the bed, only to have my alone time interrupted by the appearance of Mission.

"Oh, looks like you're finally up." She said, walking over from the doorway only to poke me on the knee. "It's about time."

I scowled. "Excuse me for favouring my beauty sleep after a non-stop day of action packed fun. I don't do this kind of shit everyday you know."

She grinned. "Figured as much."

"Well, is there a reason you're here apart from reminding me how lazy I am?"

"Allegra told me to get you. The big race is in a few hours and she wants the whole team ready."

My brow furrowed in confusion. "Wait, I thought that was tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "They moved it. The reason was rather vague but from what I heard, it _apparently_ had something to do with the Sith."

"Apparently?"

"Gadon figures it's because Brejik's getting touchy, especially after we stole that accelerator. Of course, Carth was all "the sooner we get Bastila the better, no?" but then again, he's not in the same position as Allegra."

I sat up and stretched. "Guess I better get properly dressed then. You know, since the race is today and everything." I looked down at my jeans and singlet.

"Yep."  
"Well, seeing as you're here, you can make yourself useful by finding those damn bindings of mine..." I looked down. "Oh wait, I'm wearing them..."

**-()-**

Once I was finally all suited up, the two of us made our way into one of the offices in the Hidden Bek base. Okay, office was a stretch. It was really just the mechanics room off of the swoop garage, but apparently that was enough.

"You know, the least she could do is be around after summoning us and everything." I grumbled, seeing the room empty when we rocked up.  
"And the least you could do is be up and ready without wrangling." A familiar voice teased and I turned to see Allegra leaning against the doorframe.

I shrugged. "Overslept I guess." I wasn't about to own up about that dream to her of all people. I acted crazy enough as it was. To be honest, I was glad for the distraction the upcoming swoop race offered, as it got my mind off that one hell of a plot twist/dream. Something I didn't quite want to sit around and think about just yet...maybe when I was off Taris and didn't have the threat of being blown up hanging over my head.

"Thought as much." She straightened and made her way into the room. "Carth's on his way, just running over a few things with Gadon about the race."

"Right." I shifted uncomfortably. "So, what exactly is the plan by the way? Apart from praying the bike doesn't explode..."

A momentary pause on her end, her lips making a thin line, and then she was right back with us. "There's not much to it really. Apart from the racing, which apparently is down to me. Rescuing Bastila is the primary objective."

"Oh yes, can't forget little Miss Jedi who we've all been risking our arses over this whole time. Who could forget?"

"She's valuable to the Republic war effort, and we can't risk the Sith finding her."

"Your words or Carth's?"

The ghost of a smile. "Mostly his, to be honest. I barely know anything about the woman, apart from the fact she ordered my transfer aboard the _Spire_."

"I see." _'Oh just you wait...'_

"Gadon's ready to go as soon as we are." Carth said, finally making an appearance. He looked at me, a smirk coming to his face. "Looks like someone's finally up."  
I pouted. "Yeah, yeah. Make a girl feel wanted, why don't cha Onasi?"

He chuckled lightly and then looked at Allegra. "You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." She shifted nervously, an interesting thing to see as I'm used to her looking all infallible and bad-ass. 'Spose even Revan gets a little nervous, though I didn't exactly blame her. "As soon as that guy gets back with my racing jumpsuit, we can head out."

It was then I noticed the helmet sitting on the desk. They actually wear protection? Unless this was Allegra insisting upon such things for herself.

"I've had a thought." I said, turning back to the motley crew.

"Just the one?" Mission teased and I slapped her on the shoulder, strangely getting a sense of déjà vu.

"Oh shush you." I focused on my question, looking at Allegra. "How are we going to know which racer is you if you're wearing a helmet? There won't be any red hair flying around to watch out for, so how will we see if you win the race?"

She pursed her lips for a moment, thinking. "That's a good point. Though we really haven't got much time now to do anything about that."

"Actually..." I hefted the helmet into my hands, giving it a good once over. Maybe...hm, I can think of something that would fit just about there, in the middle towards the back. Oh yes. That would work. "Anyone have a pen or something that would leave a mark on this thing?"

She tilted her head to side, looking at me curiously. "Whatever for?"

"I just figured out how we're going to pick you out of the crowd Khan."

A few minutes and a hunt for a contraption that would mark the helmet later and I was hard at work. Mission leant over my shoulder, to get a good look at just what I was doing. "Ooh, that's interesting..."

I paused, lifting the pen and pursing my lips. "Maybe if I just..." I added another curved line to it, connecting everything up. "There."

I have this weird habit of drawing what I like to call, random arcane looking symbols. Really, it's just me messing about with the way lines can curve and join up to make something real trippy looking or probably my dark gothic side intervening in my drawing. Never the less, I like drawing them, even if copying them without tracing is pretty much out of the question because I never stick to same sort of lines. And it was one of these random symbols that I drew on the back of Allegra's helmet, filling it in to make it stand out.

I handed the helmet back "What do ya think?"

One of her fingers traced the symbol I'd drawn, following the pattern. "Looks good. I think you'll definitely spot me out of the crowd now."  
"That **was** the point."

She gave me a warm smile. "Yeah. Nice work anyway, never figured you were an artist."

"Actually, I'm more of a writer, but I'll take praise where I can get it." I leant back against one of the benches, grinning and feeling pretty darn happy with myself.

"I'll bet."

Someone shouted something outside and she turned her head at the sound. "That's probably the guy with my racing suit. I better get going." She tucked the helmet under her arm. "I'll catch up with you lot a little later, when we head off for the race."

Mission and I nodded.

"Sure thing." I said. "See you later then."

As she left, Mission then grabbed my arm, taking me out the other door in the room. Carth wandered off after Allegra, probably to do...I don't know, Carth things?

"And just where are _we_ going?" I asked as she dragged me off.

"I talked to some of the swoop crews earlier on, while you were still sleeping, and managed to secure one of their spare banners to use for our team."

"Banner? Whatever do we need a banner for?" This was news to me.

"Fans usually have a banner for their favourite racer, to show off on race day. I thought it might be an idea to have one of our own."

Hm, that whole idea reminded me of football somehow, with people brandishing placards and flags during the match to show their support of their favourite team playing. Not that I ever really watched football, as I wasn't the sports kind of girl, but I had seen a little on TV once with a friend to know what I was talking about.

"Makes sense. Though how is anyone going to pick that we're not just supporting one of the Bek riders?"

"You can draw that symbol you did for Allegra's helmet on it, then everyone will know we're supporting her."

"Sounds good."

**-()-**

Sometime later we made our way to where Allegra and Carth were supposed to be waiting for us to head off for the race, carrying our nifty new banner with us. Allegra was pacing back and forth and talking to herself, while Carth was sitting on a small stack of crates watching her. I guessed she was probably running over the mechanics of swoop racing that she'd practiced earlier on in her head, but it was anyone's guess. Though from the words of encouragement Carth seemed to be giving her that looked likely to be just what was on her mind.

"You all good there?" I said, as Mission and I approached. She stopped and looked up at the two of us, before a sheepish smile came to her face.

"As good as I'll ever be." She then noticed the roll of cloth Mission had bundled in her arms. Aka our banner. "What's that?"

"Oh, nothing really." I winked at Mission. "We all set now?"

Allegra nodded. Her racing outfit wasn't all that different from those you see motorcyclists wearing during the big races. Not that I've ever been to one of those, but TV can be very enlightening. The zip at the front was let down some, showing off the cream skivvy from her scout outfit underneath, the rest of the jumpsuit a nice dark blue with kind of pale silvery markings that drew attention to her eyes, being a similar colour. Her helmet, with the dark symbol on the back was tucked under one arm.

"Looks decent, doesn't it?" She said, noticing me giving her outfit a once over.  
"I'll admit it strangely suits you."

"Hm, okay, as far as compliments go." She tugged on it little. "Bit tight fitting though."

"Very." Carth said and I tried not to laugh at the expression on his face.

"Yeah, well, as long as it doesn't rip when you bend over, you'll be all good." I teased.

"I bloody hope not. Though the boys would probably enjoy the show." She winked to Carth, grinning madly, those dimples in full bloom.

"_Anyway_." Carth then said, changing the subject. "You...girls ready for the race?" I tried not to pull some kind of stupid expression at his obvious hesitation, nor his obvious need to change the subject from where it was inevitably heading. It seemed Onasi was still adjusting to the switch from Jaqe to Jess on my part, now that he knew I was really a girl. My fingers toyed with the end of my ponytail, still in the complete "Jaqe" ensemble mainly on the Beks part. Gadon and the others hadn't gotten the awkward "Omg he's actually a she" surprise, so they all still reckoned I was a bloke.

"Ready as we'll ever be, right Mission?" I said, looking at my partner in crime.

"Yup." She said. "Ready as we'll ever be."

Zaalbar, who we'd met up with while hunting for the banner, barked/growled his response, which Mission then translated. "He says he's ready."

"Well, we better get moving then. The race will be starting soon." Allegra replied, looking at Carth, who nodded.

"Yeah, Bastila can't rescue herself." I said. _'Though she seems to __**think **__she does. Man, I can't wait to pull Jedi Princess down a peg or two...or six.' _"If she could, she'd probably have done it already. And where would we be then?"

"Screwed." Mission added.

"Exactly." I looked at Carth and Allegra with what I hoped was interpreted as a reassuring expression. "But from what Mish and I have heard from rumours circulating the base here, the Vulkars still have their pretty little prize to show off on race day."

"Today." Mission corrected.

I turned to look at her, now side on to Allegra and Carth. "That's what I meant."

"No, you said race day."

"Yes, but obviously that's today so it doesn't matter. Plus, it sounds better the way I said it."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carth give Allegra a weird look about the two of us and the red-haired scout just shrugged.

"_Anyway_..." I said. "Don't we all have a race to get to? What are we standing around like a bunch of idiots for?"

Zaalbar growled something, and once again I was at a loss as to understanding him.

"What did he just say?"

"He agrees with you." Mission replied.

"Oh. Well that's new."

"Anyway, let's roll." Allegra said. With a nod from Mission and me, she started heading off through the doors that lead to the swoop track, Carth in step with her and Zaalbar, Mission and I trailing along behind them. Somewhere along the way, I managed to trip over something (damn floors that look even and then trip you up when you least expect it!) and crashed straight into Zaalbar's back.

"Whoops, my bad."

He barked/growled/howled something in his language and I looked to the closest person I had for a translation.

"Mission?"

"He says it's a wonder you've survived after being such an idiot."

I frowned. "Somehow I don't trust you. For all I know he could have said that the room smells of cheese and you could still apparently translate it as 'the only idiot around here is you' or something ridiculously mean to me. Or what you just said."

Mission raised an eyebrow. "Right, and I really go out of my way to do that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. You tell me, this is you we are talking about."

She rolled her eyes and then pushed me towards the door. "Sometimes you are way too weird to understand, you know that?"

I grinned, much like the Cheshire cat. "Yup. Happens that way sometimes."

"Just move it, you weirdy. The swoop race isn't going to just sit around and wait for us."

"What did Zaalbar actually say by the way?"

"Do you really want to know?"

I thought for a moment. "Eh...not really...unless it's super important."

"It wasn't."

"Then don't worry about it."

**-()-**

The first thing I noticed upon entering the place was the noise. Those swoops are **loud**, seriously so. From the people crowded around view screens and peering down at the track, it looked like some racers were at it already, clocking up times. It was starting to remind me of some kind of massive car race with all the racket they were making, much like the Grand Prix or something. Not that I've ever been but, like I said, TV can be very enlightening. I'm certain I could barely hear myself think and this was a good day.

"Shit, this place is louder than the time I went to a club that had a live rock band!" I shouted out, checking out the crowded stands.

"What?" Mission shouted, over the roar of the swoop engines, as some racers went through pre-race preparations, others doing runs on the track.

"I said this place is louder than a live rock band at a club I went to once!" I shouted back, hands still covering my ears.

"Oh!"

"Stop shouting!" Carth complained. "It's bad enough without you two making a racket!"

"What?" We both shouted back at him.

He gave up, rolling his eyes and moving to a section a little ways off that was probably quieter.

"Come on!" Mission grabbed my arm again. "Let's find a good spot to show off our banner!"

I grinned and nodded in agreement, deciding that was the best option for a response instead of shouting again.

The two of us cut through the crowd as best we could, trying to make our way to somewhere less crowded in the stands where we could show off our banner with pride. Allegra had already headed off to wherever the Beks garage was, probably to go through the same sorts of checks with her mechanic like these other noisy fellas seemed to be doing. Zaalbar ambled along behind the two of us, as we climbed the stands in our search for a good vantage point. It was then I figured it was the best time to ask something that had been bugging me for a little while now.

"Hey Mish?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got a question."

"Shoot."

I waited until the swoop careening along the track down below us had passed before posing my question. "Just how...does this whole swoop race business work out?"

"Oh right, Dantooine doesn't have swoop races does it?"

"Uh...no. Hence why I'm asking." _'Not entirely true girly, you just wanna know if they're going to race like in the game.' _"Although I have heard about them. Dangerous stuff."

"Yeah, it can get pretty crazy. Some racers get waay too cocky and the explosions can take out others with them."

I winced, if mostly for show. "Ouch. So...how exactly do they...race?"

Mission paused as an announcer mumbled something over the intergalactic equivalent of loudspeakers (it was too loud to really understand what he was saying) and we kept clambering through the stands. "Usually they do speed runs, and the racer with the fastest time wins."

"Usually?"

"Today's a little different."

"How so?"

"The racers with the fastest times in the preliminaries, which is what they're doing now, face off against each other in one big final race. The winner of that wins the championship."

"Oh." This didn't sound too good, especially with that big old catch we had to work with. The two of us stopped, finding a spot that looked good enough to haul out the banner.

"From the look on your face, I think you're thinking what I'm thinking." She said, resting our banner down on one of the benches.

"That it's more likely the bike's going to explode before we get the chance to win?"

"Yup."  
"Then yes, I am thinking what you're thinking." _'Since when did we become the Bananas in Pyjamas?' _"So what's our plan with this then?"  
"We wait until the final race is about to start and..."

"...show it off in all its glory along with all the other fans?"

"Yup."

"Sounds good to me. As long as Allegra makes it through the preliminaries."

"Yeah."

We sat down on one of the benches, still with a pretty good view of the track. I slouched forward, staring at the track before deciding to use the opportunity we had for more conversation. "So how long have you been on Taris?"

"Ooh, long time now. I was just a little kid when I arrived here."

"Bit rough of a place for a kid to grow up." She opened her mouth for that protest I knew was coming (although that time it had been Carth saying it and she'd been digital) and I beat her to the punch. "I'm just sayin', compared to Dantooine, this place is no picnic. Well, it's not exactly easy there either, but at least you don't have gangs that could beat you senseless while just walking down the street. No wonder you're such a tough cookie. Though having Zaalbar around must help."

She stopped, closed her mouth for a few seconds, and then spoke up. "I look out for Zaalbar as much as he looks out for me, I ain't some helpless kid."

"I never said that." I scuffed my feet, a warm smile coming to my face. "I mean, you can handle yourself way better than I can and I'm the older then you."

She returned the smile. "Just how old did you say you were again?"

I noticed the cheeky twinkle in her eyes. "I'm not telling you, you'll just rub in my face just how much I suck."

"Well...I suppose that's what you get for being a farm kid..."

I punched her playfully in the arm. "Oi missy, don't diss us country folk." She just grinned back at me, and the mood sobered up again.

"Do you ever think you'll see your family again?"

Her question caught me off guard and I had to think about what to say for a moment. "I don't know. Maybe...maybe one day."

'_Shit, my family.'_ I'd been so caught up in all the craziness that had been going that I'd almost forgotten about home. Just how the hell was I going to get back? My little sis, mum, dad...was I ever going to see them again? And my friends, what about them? Things didn't seem like quite so much a big fun party anymore, if I didn't know how I was going to get home.

'_What did you do back there anyway? Sure, you had friends, and you've got family but...it's not like you really amounted to anything...'_ That was no reason not to worry. This wasn't my home, this wasn't my real life. What was I going to do if...if...I didn't quite want to think about that just yet.

"Jess?" Mission said, noticing I'd gone very quiet.

I shook my head, brushing all those thoughts aside for a moment. "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Oh. Okay."

We were silent again for a moment, both thinking, until I decided I was going to be the one to break it. "What about you? You got family somewhere?"

She sat there, silent for a bit longer. I was just thinking of changing the train of conversation when she finally spoke. "My brother, Griff. I was too young to remember my parents, much less know them or what happened...well, it was always just the two of us, you know?"

I nodded. "So what happened to him?" _'Apart from the fact he's a sleazy arsehole.' _Oh yes, I remembered Griff, Mission's sleazebag of a brother. If I ever meet him, I'm going to give that bum a piece of my mind...

"I...I don't really want to talk about it. Not now anyway."

"That's okay, I understand."

She smiled, if it was only a small one. "You know, I'm glad you're not a guy."

I raised my eyebrows. "And why is that exactly?"

She giggled. "Because you're much better as a girl."

"That's not an answer."

Her smile widened. "It is now."

I poked her playfully in the ribs. "It is not. Give me a real answer."

She giggled again, scooting out of reach."Because as a guy, I'd almost think you're gay. What with the way you fussed over your hair, your clothes, and problems talking to girls..."

It wasn't exactly an answer, but I couldn't be bothered to go into it anymore. This was much more fun.

I laughed. "Small talk was never my strong point, regardless of gender. And all that doesn't necessarily mean a guy is gay."

"True. But since you're not a guy, it explains all that stuff."

A cheeky smile came to my face. "What if I was still gay?"

"Huh?"

"Being a girl explains all the stuff that could be taken as a gay guy, but what if I was still gay regardless?"

She gave me a questioning look. "You...aren't...are you?"

I laughed again. "And what if I was?" I grinned, wiggling my eyebrows.

"I would think twice about the whole shower scene yesterday." From the look on her face though, I think she'd caught on that I was just being an idiot and teasing her.

"Oh boy, I'm all hot and bothered at the thought of being alone...in the showers...with Allegra..." I joked, pretending to fan myself. "A girl gets tingles just thinking of that gorgeous red-head."

She laughed. "You're terrible."

"Aw...now that's just mean. You shouldn't be so mean to poor little old me." I pulled a sad face and she just pushed me in the shoulder, knocking me back a little.

"You weirdy."

I kept grinning. "You know you love me. In a totally platonic and so not homosexual way..." She just rolled her eyes.

Standing up, I stretched, at the same time wondering what else we could do while we waited for the final race. I looked past Mission, noticing a bunch of people milling around somewhere close by, though a little lower down from us. Then a cage came into view, guarded by a pair of...Nikto I believe they're called, in Vulkar colours.

'_Must be where they keep the stash for the prize. Which means...that's where Basty is.'_

My opinion on the young Jedi was mixed. Sure, she annoyed the hell outta me, much like Carth sometimes did but somehow I still somewhat liked her as well. Felt sorry for her sometimes even, but not enough to go out of my way to ignore her self-righteous behaviour.

An idea occurred to me and I stood up, moving to stand in front of Mission, and poking her on the knee. "Come on."

She looked up. "What?"

"Let's go check out the prize draw, see what's going on." I tilted my head in the direction of the area I'd noticed earlier, with all the Vulkars. There were a few Beks over there, and some other gangs, but the majority were Vulkars. Probably because Basty was their prize and they wanted to keep an eye on her.

"But we already know..."

"We've got time to kill. Plus, I'd like to get a good look at the woman that I joined this crazy little crusade to rescue. Wouldn't you?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, I guess."

"Don't worry, we'll get back here in time for the race. I wouldn't miss showing off this baby for the world." I patted our banner. "Besides, Zaalbar can watch it for us, right big guy?"

Zaalbar growled an affirmative.

"See?"

"All right." She stood up. "Let's go then."

Zaalbar barked us something that sounded like the cross between a warning and a goodbye, but as usual I had no hope of understanding what came out of his mouth.

"We'll be back soon buddy, don't worry." Mission said to him. "I'll bring you back something to eat."

More barks and growls.

"I only have two hands! Geez!"

**-()-**

A quick look at one of the view screens showing the race stats showed us that Allegra had made it through the preliminaries (with some pretty sweet times too) and we were one step closer to rescuing Bastila. Hopefully the accelerator held out during the final race, otherwise we were going to be really screwed.

That sorted, we busied ourselves with checking out the stakes. Of course, marching right up to the cage and taking a peek proved to be a little more difficult than originally anticipated.

"Just where do you think you're going?" A burly looking Vulkar said, as I came within just a few feet of Bastila's cage.

"Uh...there?" I pointed behind him, trying not to balk at the size of the guy compared to me. I mean, I'm fairly tall, but this guy was huge.

"And what makes you think you can do that?"

Mission, who seemed a million times braver then me, beat me at responding. "The fact we have someone racing for it bantha-face. Seems you need to read up on the rules."

"Yeah...read up on the rules..." I echoed, a little more nervously. _'Maybe we should have taken Zaalbar after all...'_

The Vulkar guard grunted something incoherent and then stepped aside, waving us towards the cage. To be truthfully, I'd seen Basty a million times before, but Mission here had no real idea who the young Jedi was, or even what she looked like. Which was really the only reason I'd suggested this trip.

'_Take a good look girly. This is the woman you'll probably drive you up the wall with her snooty-ness for the rest of this trip...'_

Speaking of trips, just where was I thinking mine was going to end? Where was I planning on getting off this crazy train? Off Taris was a big certainty, I wasn't (nor would I ever be) in the mood to get disintegrated any time soon. I'd probably be all right getting off at Dantooine...except for the fact the Sith eventually blew that place to pieces as well. You know sticking with these guys the whole way is starting to sound like a better idea...at least that way I have a say in how and when I get killed.

I turned my attention and thoughts, back to the cage. Basty wasn't looking so good in there, a bit paler then normal and barely standing upright. That neural disruptor must be some serious business.

"Well, well, look what we have here." A sly, arrogant sounding voice then came from behind us.

'_Hm, I think my complete arsehole senses are tingling...that must be Brejik.'_

And sure enough, when Mission and I turned around, there was the Black Vulkar leader, looking as smug and annoying as ever. Gosh what I wouldn't give to slap him right about now...if it wasn't going to get me killed. The guy needs a reality check, followed by a swift kick up the backside.

"Getting a good look at the prize now, are you kiddies?"

I scowled something vicious at the demeaning term (I'm almost twenty damn it!) and crossed my arms over my chest. Mission wasn't looking too happy with it either.

"Well, _gramps_..." I said, putting particular emphasis on gramps in retaliation for the kiddies remark. "...what's it to you?"

"We're allowed to be here." Mission added, mimicking my stance.

That smug look was still on his face. "Take a good look kids, for this is the closest you'll ever get to the prize."

"Pff." I snorted. "Entertain what delusions you see fit, Brejik, your overconfidence is your weakness." Oh great, now I'm half-quoting Luke Skywalker. Could I get anymore geeky?

"Your faith in your friends is yours."

'_What is this, Return of the Jedi? He's about as ugly as the Emperor I guess...'_

It was still pretty darn loud even over here and in my opinion the situation was just asking for it. Especially as a swoop raced just around the corner at about the same time he opened his mouth to keep boosting that bloody overinflated ego of his.

"Sorry mate, I can't hear ya over the sound of my awesomeness!" I sent a wicked grin in response to the vicious scowl on Brejik's face and then turned to my partner in crime.

"We done Mish?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"See ya on the flip side, guys. And please, try to lose gracefully." And with those particularly smart alecy words and a mock salute/wave from me, Mission and I turned tail and got out of there. Didn't want to wear out our welcome, and I was pretty sure after my big mouth, we weren't all that welcome by the Vulkars.

"That was brave." Mission said, as we left the Black Vulkar leader and his cronies far behind.

"Eh, it's not like he could do anything too nasty to us back there anyway, not with so many witnesses."

'_No, that's later when he's gonna accuse Allegra of cheating, the dirty little prick.'_

"I'm guessing the woman in the cage is obviously Bastila though."

"Yeah." I spared a glance back the way we'd came. "I'll say one thing though."

"What?"  
"What is it with captors always making their women prisoners to wear skanky outfits? Seriously."

She giggled. "I think that's just a male thing."

"_Not __**just**__ males I'm afraid..." _Eh? What was that? "You're telling me."

Shaking my head, I focused on our conversation rather than randomly hearing voices. Not like I hadn't done that before in the course of this little misadventure of mine (the damn things brought me here after all).

"Aw, and I thought you said you were gay before."

I snorted. "That was a joke and you know it. Besides, if I **was** gay, skanky outfits might be interesting but they're also demeaning."

She smiled. "Anyway, we better get back. The race will be starting any minute now."

I nodded. "Good idea."

"Just let me get something for Zaalbar to eat and we'll be all good..."

**-()-**

Zaalbar growled a greeting when we got back and dug straight into the stuff Mission brought back for him. Meanwhile, the two of us clambered up onto one of the benches in the stands, setting up our banner so it was ready when the time came. It was in the middle of doing that, when Carth rocked up.

"There you are." He said, walking over. "I saw Brejik looking pretty put off just before. You two wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you?"

Mission and I exchanged a conspirators look. "Us? Come on Carth, we're practically angels, aren't we Mish?"

"Yup!"

He rolled his eyes, and then took in our banner. "Is that for the race?"

"Yup. Made it ourselves." Mission answered, "Right Jess?"  
"You betcha. The other banners are gonna have nothing on this baby." I grinned.

Carth chuckled. "All right, settle down you two. We're here to rescue Bastila remember?"

"Who could forget?" I finished. "We've only been reminded like...I don't know, a million times?" I pursed my lips for a minute. "We got a good look at her before, over at the prize draw. They've got some kind of neural disruptor on her and the poor gal isn't lookin' too good for it."

Carth's brow furrowed. "I see. Brejik must have found out she's a Jedi somehow, otherwise he wouldn't have bothered with it."

"Well, I'm sure things will be fine once she's rescued." Mission added. "I mean, that's what we're here for, right?"

I nodded. "Yup." _'And then we'll have to put up with her. Still, I do feel sorry for her...'_

Carth made himself comfortable over by the railing, and then pointed down at the track. "Here they come."

Mission and I got into position, and then she looked at me."Ready?"

"Ready when you are Mish. Let's unleash this baby!"

As the racers made their way out onto the track to their swoops, Mission and I unfurled the banner on its supports, showing it off in its full glory. The background was a neat dark blue, much like Allegra's racing jumpsuit, with silver lines making a cross over it. The symbol I'd drawn earlier sat in pride of place, right in the centre, standing out in bold black. Allegra, down on the track, noticed our banner unfurling into existence, and with a grin, lifted her helmet in the air showing off the symbol etched onto it with pride. Nobody was gonna mistake this mother of a banner as belonging to anyone else. Other banners slowly made their appearance, some for Vulkar riders others for the Beks. There were even some other ones for gangs I didn't even know existed. The whole experience was surreal and I couldn't help but grin like mad, certain my jaw would be aching once the race was over from all the work it was doing. Seeing this thing play out in person was a million times more exciting.

Racers took their positions on their rides. The volume of the swoop engines increased, the sound nearly deafening and I listened to the countdown over the loudspeakers, just audible above the clamour below.

_5...4...3..._

Allegra pulled down the visor of her helmet, and lifted her feet up to rest against the pedals. Other racers took positions. The atmosphere in the crowd was tense as the final seconds ticked down.

_...2...1..._

The light overhead the racers flickered from red to green.

_...Go!'_

The roar of swoop engines filled the air as they took off, each competing for glory. Racers zoomed across the track, the riders merely colourful blurs. Mission and I were leaning right against the railing, trying to spot Allegra in the crush as they went past us, little more than a blue and silver blur with a black mark up top on the track amongst the others. And it wasn't looking too good so far, what with her stuck behind a pair of Vulkars that were making it impossible to attempt a pass.

'_Not good.'_

Then there was a large flash as one of the two in front of her hit something, careening into his fellow. The explosion was pretty crazy, leaving scorch marks over the track. Allegra zoomed past, unaffected, now reaching third place. Soon enough they were all out of sight, and the two of us were scrambling to peer around Carth to look at a hand-held view screen he'd picked up. Hm, reminded me of the Podrace in the first movie...didn't Anakin's mum have something like this? Eh, I was liking these swoop races better. I winced at another almost collision, Allegra nicking past to take up second, and then looked back at the track, seeing if I could catch any sort of glimpse of them from here.

My brow furrowed, seeing something in the distance that had me stop and think for a moment. "Uh Mish..." I tugged on her jacket, hoping to get her attention.

"Mm?"

"Call me crazy but, is there _supposed_ to be a guy standing over there?" I pointed to the shifty looking fella over in an abandoned stand, high up with a good view of the track. Carth was still occupied with watching the race.

"What do you mean?" She took a good look and then both of us noticed something that struck the innocence of the situation out of the picture.

"Damn, he's got a..." I started.

"...sniper rifle." She finished. We both looked at each other.

"I think Brejik's got something shifty planned." I said, "I say him because I'm sure that guy's in Vulkar colours."  
She nodded. "We have to do something. If Brejik's sniper takes out Allegra..."

"...we're screwed."

We clambered down off the bench we'd been standing on to fix up our banner, near the railing.

"Where are you two going?" Carth asked, our escape not going unnoticed.

"There's a..."

I was cut off unceremoniously by Mission's hand over my mouth. "Girl stuff."

He raised an eyebrow, thought for a moment, and then waved us off. "Just get on with it."

I removed Mission's hand and the two of us walked away from Carth. Once out of sight, we took off, pushing our way through the crowd of fans and other team members milling around our part of the stands, headed in the direction of the sniper. A few people complained at being shoved unceremoniously aside, but I didn't let it faze me. There was a sniper to take care of. Of course, I saw her reasoning for not having Carth tag along, we had little time as it was and explaining things to him would eat up valuable seconds.

Unfortunately, the crowd got worse the further we got in, and it wasn't long before we found ourselves held up by a particularly large road block.

'_Speaking of eating up valuable seconds...'_

"Split up!" I shouted to Mission. "That way at least one of us will make it there in time to stop him!"

Nodding, she headed around to the right, while I took the left, barging my way through the crowd. An elbow here, a good shove there and then I was free, careening down the makeshift hallway. A blue blur just behind me to my right told me that Mission had gotten free of the crush as well. The two of us managed to make it to the sniper's stand unimpeded, and just in time too.

The seconds ticked down. The Vulkar sniper looked down the sight one last time. He lined up his shot. I sprinted across through the stands, heart pounding in my chest.

'_Just a little further...' _

His finger hovered inches off the trigger. A smug smirk made its way to his face. A burst of speed seemed to come from nowhere as I raced on. The finger moved, just a fragment on the trigger when... bam! My body collided with his in a full on tackle. The shot went wide, hitting the ceiling instead of its intended target. Allegra raced around the corner, overtaking another rider to finally wind up in first place, with not much track left to go. Mission caught up to me just as I was clambering off the sniper.

I flashed a grin her way. "Good guys 1, Vulkars, nil. Scnap!"

Her eyes went wide as she pointed over my shoulder. "Behind you!"

I just missed the blow the sniper sent my way by ducking, but wasn't so lucky with the second and was sent sprawling across the stands. Mission ran in and kicked the sniper rifle away as he scrambled to grab it, only to get an elbow in the ribs for her trouble. Recovering, I raced back into the fray, jumping onto the sniper's back and grappling his arms. The two of us wrestled back and forth, him attempting to get me off as I pounded my fists against what I could reach.

"Get off bitch!" he snarled, just barely dodging a hit from Mission who tried to take advantage of the situation.

"Make me arsehole!" I snapped back, the kick I'd sent his way going wide as he spun around.

His answer was to smash his back, and me, against a nearby wall. I hit the wall hard, pain shooting through the back of my head and, sliding off the back of the Vulkar sniper, crumpled to the floor.

'_Damn it!' _

Mission pulled out her blaster and took a shot at him as he now came after her. Dodging that, he suddenly picked up the rifle and swung it towards her, making her back up to dodge it and open for a counter attack. Knocking her blaster away, he sent her sprawling across the stands. Fuck! We're getting our butts kicked! And she's a better fighter then me!

'_Snipers are supposed to be gangly little pricks, not human/alien tanks that smash you into walls!'_

Forcing myself back upright, I staggered forward a few steps, determined not to mess this up. Of course, the fact I could now barely see from all the dark spots in my vision didn't help in the slightest.

"_I should have known this would happen!" _Someone, somewhere, cursed yet I couldn't tell if it had been out loud or in my head. _"Blast and damnation! This transition period is most inconvenient!"_

Either someone had done something to the lights or hitting the wall had somehow fucked up my vision. Mission was scrambling for her blaster, knocked out of her hand by the sniper earlier. The sniper moved back to his earlier position. I kept on moving forward, despite my dodgy vision. Closing in on the sniper, a few seconds passed as he lined up for another shot and then...

"_This will have to do for now..."_

...I pounced.

The rest of the battle was a blur, I was so out of it I don't even remember what happened. All that I do remember though, is coming back to holding the muzzle of my blaster snugly against the back of the sniper's head, my other arm around in a choke hold around his neck, keeping him from doing anything funny.

'_That was...weird, to say the least.' _I couldn't even remember seeing what Mission had been doing, but no doubt whatever it was had been enough for me to sneak in and get to this position. Blinking a few times to focus my vision better, I concentrated back on the situation at hand.

"Not feeling so cool now, are we mate?" I hissed, digging my blaster in a little for emphasis. "You picked the wrong girls to mess with."

I heard Mission come over and turned my head a little to look at her. "You okay?"

She nodded. "My head hurts a little, and no doubt I'll have a few bruises, but otherwise I'm good. You?"

"I've been better." I'm surprised I was upright with the way my head was spinning, but it was getting better so things should be good. The rest of me still felt pretty sore though. Seems bruised ribs had been the least of my worries in this adventure.

"We should get back, Allegra will have come off the track by now." Mission said, keeping an eye on our prisoner now as well. Although, was it just me, or did her tone sound a little...different? Almost...a teensy bit afraid. But...of me? That didn't make sense.

I nodded. "Grab that sniper rifle."

"Why?"

"We're taking this guy with us." I changed my position, keeping the blaster level with the sniper's head, but now grabbing him by the collar (feeling pretty badass in the process). "It's time to show Brejik messing with us is a bad idea."

"_And soon, this Brejik won't be the only one..."_

**-()-**

By the time we got back, things were already getting heated. No doubt we'd already missed Brejik's little line about Allegra (who'd obviously won) supposedly cheating and our fearless leader hadn't been about to take that lying down.

"I cheated?" Allegra said, pointing a finger at the Black Vulkar leader, her helmet resting snugly beneath one arm. "Who stole the accelerator from the Beks in the first place?"

"How come you have it now, if I "stole it" as you so claim?"

"Obviously somebody reclaimed it you schutta, or are you really that stupid?"

Brejik glared at her. "You are in no position to..."

"...give the leader of the Black Vulkars a taste of his own medicine?"

I will say something about Allegra. The woman has guts. Serious guts. Then again, with a past like hers, that's not all that much of a surprise.

"You cheated and you **dare** mock me woman?"

I coughed loudly and the attention shifted from Allegra and Brejik's little tiff to me, standing a short distance from them with Mission. Thankfully my head had stopped spinning by the time we'd made it back, though I did have a small headache. Being crashed into walls is not good for my brain cells.

"Speaking of cheating..." I threw down the Vulkar sniper, resting one booted foot on his back to keep him down. "...I think having a sniper ready to take out unsuspecting riders in the way pretty much takes the cake in my book." I levelled my gaze with Brejik's feeling pretty darn smug and proud of myself. "Like say...this one?" My foot nudged the sniper bloke in the side. "In Vulkar colours too I must admit."

"Not so smug now are ya Brejik?" Mission said and the two of us exchanged a high five at Brejik's sour expression.

"Due to the Hidden Beks' treachery, the Black Vulkars withdraw their part of the prize." Brejik snarled, looking pretty darn pissed off that his little plan was foiled. Of course, Mission and I were ripe to call Vulkar treachery but never got our chance.

"But that goes against tradition!" The Duros racing coordinator protested, before either of us could say a word. "Once entered, a prize cannot be withdrawn!"

It didn't surprise me in the slightest when Brejik shot the guy, and started his little pro-Vulkar rant. I could have just done without the "We are the wave of the future" speech of ultimate crap and I'm surprised I didn't try and shoot him right then.

"I happen to make my own future." Allegra said, sounding just as intimidating with this quiet and even tone she was adopting. "And it's starting to look like one without you in it."

'_Ooh, is it just me, or has the room temperature just dropped a few degrees?'_

"You think you can stop me from just selling this woman on the slave market?" the idiot named Brejik continued, looking smug. "You can certainly try."

I probably should have been more scared about the upcoming battle, but with Basty about to break out any minute, Allegra's total badass-ness and Mission, Carth and Zaalbar backing me up, I felt surprisingly confident. A new turn of events for me, I can tell ya.

'_Seriously mate, you have __**no**__ idea just who you are dealing with here...'_

"I might have something to say about that Brejik." I nearly squealed like a bloody fan girl at the sound of that familiar, if weak sounding, voice and mentally cursed such blatant out of character behaviour.

The cage door was torn off with a wave of...what exactly would you call it? Telekinetic energy? Invisible Force energy? My creativity seems lacking in ways of describing it. Surprised at the sudden turn of events, one of the Vulkar guards was a little slow in reacting, giving Bastila plenty of time to nick his vibro double-blade and take him out. The other was a little faster, though met the same fate as Bastila gracefully whirled the weapon in her hands, slashing him straight across the throat. Then bloody blade in hand, she turned to everyone else, grey eyes shooting daggers at Brejik.

'_Ouch.'_

Would it be over-exaggerating to say I nearly exploded in happiness? Actually, yeah, it would. I was happy my shit-tastic combat skills were having their slack taken up by a Jedi, but I wasn't **that** happy.

'_YES!' _I had to stop myself from screaming that out loud. Despite her obvious personality flaws, I was glad for Bastila's assistance. Even though she was going to claim it was her that saved all of us in the end like the arrogant woman she is, but hey, I'll admit to being saved a little considering how bad I am at fighting. Just a little, mind you. When no one's looking...

"Black Vulkars to me!"

"Oh yes...summon the cronies..." I muttered, keeping a good grip on my blaster, still pointed at the sniper. Wait...couldn't I like ransom this guy or something? He is a hostage after all. Mission and Carth both reached for their blasters, with Zaalbar letting out an angry roar, bowcaster in hand.

"Kill this woman, kill the swoop rider! Kill them all!"

Even though we were about to head into some major battle where I knew I would probably totally get my arse kicked, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. _'Right, so moron face gets his lame cronies to take on a Jedi? Seriously, do the normal bad guys learn nothing? Jedi = lightsaber = fancy powers = total badass-ness. Okay, so this time it's just Bastila but...'_

"Ah!" My internal ranting was interrupted from my feet being shoved out from under me as sniper bloke decided he was going to join his buddies in the upcoming skirmish. Amazing considering the state he was in. Somebody sure kicked the shit out of him.

Of course this was not so good news for me, being the closet target, and I barely managed to kick arse last time.

'_I think I could do with another random semi- blackout...it seemed apparently helpful last time...'_

As he scrambled up, I kicked out towards him, hoping to hit something. Contrary to my usual bad luck, I not only managed to have the blow connect, but also to hit a rather vulnerable area. The Vulkar sniper doubled over, giving me the opportunity to get back onto my feet.

"Try making any babies now son of a bitch..." I knocked him over the head for good measure, leaving him out cold on the floor clutching his crotch. One down, a dozen or so left. Perfect.

"_If you really wanted that line to stand up, you should have __**shot**__ him in the groin. As it stands, reproduction is sadly still possible. If he lives through this that is."_

What the...? Voices again? Okay so it didn't sound like one of those weird ones that had brought me here, but was familiar none the less. And feminine. Creepy...but I had much more important and life-threatening things to worry about then hearing voices right now.

"_Just don't get killed." _Not to state the obvious, but yes, that is the plan.

Many of the other racers and gang members had already turned tail and fled once things had gotten nasty, leaving just us folks to deal with the Vulkars. Probably a good thing, with my shoddy aim I'd more likely hit them instead of the Vulkars.

Allegra threw her helmet towards a Vulkar thug that came at her, smacking him in the face and leaving him down for the count. Only to realise she'd used up her only weapon. I was currently fumbling for my blaster as the fight broke out, Vulkars coming at us from multiple directions and red spraying everywhere as Mission and Carth returned fire. Then some green as Zaalbar joined with his bowcaster, resorting to hand to hand combat whenever someone got too close.

'_Just how many of these guys are there? They've multiplied! There wasn't this many in the pixelated version!'_

Coat-hangering one of the Vulkars that ran past me in attempt to take out Bastila, I nabbed his blaster before his nasty landing on the ground and threw both that and my own to Allegra, who was still in a dire need for a weapon. And then realised just how much of an idiot I'd just been.

'_Brilliant plan you utter moron! You do realise you just threw away the __**only weapon you at least vaguely knew how to use!**__'_

I was regretting that move faster than you can say that lovely little f-word. Seriously so, with the hail of blaster fire that then came my way. Ducking to avoid getting hit in the face, I kept running, in a zig-zag to avoid anything else that came my way. The first two shooting at me were then taken down by a few well placed shots from Carth, who then moved to cover Allegra leaving Mission and Zaalbar to take up my slack. Oh and Bastila, can't forget her. In the middle of this current to kill and not be killed situation, I noticed a very handy, shiny metal cylinder hanging off Brejik's belt. A very, very, handy in the right hands shiny long metal cylinder.

'_Let's just hope Bastila can catch well on the spot...'_

So, like the unskilled maniac I am, I set about anteing up our side. Aka, nabbing that lightsaber off Brejik.

Preoccupied with dodging fire from Allegra, he didn't notice the tall, lanky young woman (aka me) racing over, her eyes on the prize hanging off his belt.

Grabbing Basty's lightsaber off, I slid through his open legs as he turned finally realising someone was near him. Once on the other side, I scrambled back up onto my feet, dodged his swing towards me and then whistled loudly to garner a certain brunette's attention. And then with a final...

"Bastila, think quick!"

...I threw that very handy shiny long metal cylinder towards her, with as much accurate aim as possible.

Discarding the vibro double-blade she'd "acquired earlier" into the chest of a Vulkar, Bastila plucked her lightsaber out of the air as it came towards her, and in the same instance as activating it, decapitated a second Black Vulkar that was sneaking up on her.

'_Man, why is everyone so much more badass then me? ...this is just __**not**__ fair...'_

Ducking a swing from a Vulkar, I then elbowed him in the face before spinning around to follow that up with a well placed kick.

'_What do you know, I'm getting better at this combat shit all the time...'_

Backing up as others joined their fellow, I became aware of a humming sound just as my back hit Bastila's.

"Oh." Neither of us thought too much on it, finding the Vulkars closing in more in need of attention.

Undoing the catch that kept my sword snugly in its sheath, part of me almost squealed in excitement hearing that lovely sching sound as I pulled it out, the funky fluorescents (or the equivalent of fluorescents) down here giving the normally silvery blade a yellow-gold edge. Taking what I believed was the best estimation of a defensive stance, I kept my eye on the melee weapon wielding Vulkars swarming in front of me. A similar number was no doubt behind me as well, at Bastila's front.

"Can I safely assume you know how to use that thing?"

I tried not to let my sheepish-ness seep into my tone of voice. "Of course." _'Not unless you value your life Basty...'_

"Then I suggest you do so."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

'_Time to find my inner Lady Death.' _I thought, thinking of one of my original characters that wielded a katana with speed and style. Something I knew I would never be able to compare to, no matter how much I tried. Plus the fact she was a vampire might also have something to do with it.

With Bastila covering my back, I fended off the Vulkar thugs coming my way as best I could, lacking in both strength and skill in comparison. I realised just how lacking when I nearly had my arm taken off trying to block an overhead swing. Darting out of the way, it occurred to me that dodging seemed the best of my abilities. Swerving my body right as a Vulkar swung his vibroblade my way, I bumped into another one and just managed to avoid having my arm chopped off.  
_'Right in front of Bastila too...great.' _ She was just carving through anyone that was stupid enough to go her way, while in the meantime I was barely hitting anything.

'_You look like a total idiot!'_

Ducking another swing, I thrust my sword forward into the chest of one of the two Vulkars closest to me (ignoring the stab to my conscience about killing someone) and then tried to pull it back out again. The damn thing stuck, and mentally cursing, I tugged viciously to pull it loose. Planting my foot on his chest I finally dragged my sword free from the chest of the Vulkar, my hand catching the handle in the reverse to how I'd held it earlier, now wielding it Starkiller-style. Only to swing it round and finish the second one off with a deep slash across the chest.

'_Why the hell am I holding it this way now? Wouldn't that make it a million times harder to fight with the darn thing?'_

I brought the blade up in time to block a sloppy swing from another Vulkar that had snuck up on me. Sparks flew as his blade slid against my own and a well-placed kick to the chest had him stumbling back. My hands changed their grip on the sword handle again, opting for a more traditional style, and I swung the blade out towards him, just managing to catch him on the shoulder.

'_What the hell?'_

One minute I'd fight almost as if I knew how, and then the next, I was swinging this thing around like a madwoman with no skills. Everything was disjointed, my body moving somewhat out of whack, more so then usual in these situations. I had no time to think about this however, my still bruised ribs receiving a nasty blow to them that had me falling over my feet and onto the floor. Thankfully, the Vulkar responsible was then unceremoniously taken out by Zaalbar. I managed to see Allegra shoot Brejik's blaster right out of his hand, before delivering him a shot right between the eyes. Leaving the Vulkar leader as dead as the rest of his men that had been stupid enough to go against us.

I blinked several times to clear the dark spots from my vision, still lying on the floor. Any remaining Vulkars skedaddled, probably intimidated both by the carnage and the double-bladed laser sword of death Bastila was sporting. Man, hope she thanks me for tossing that thing her way. And doesn't bring up just how idiotic I looked just before.

"Well...we're alive." I said, feeling uninclined to get up off the floor at present. "And we got Bastila. I'd call that an achievement."

Mission nudged my leg with her foot. "Just alive." She corrected. "Considering the way you fight."

"Can we leave the criticism of my skills for a time when I can actually have the energy to fight back, thanks? I think my already-bruised-but-now-even-more-so ribs are bitching terribly at me right now. And probably various other bits of me too." The shallow cut on my right arm from when I barely dodged a slash my way still stung like crazy.

"Then don't fight like a suicidal maniac next time."

"Say what?"

"Mission's got a point kid." Carth joined our conversation. "You were swinging that sword of yours around like someone with a few screws loose. That or two people trying to fight with the one body."

"Well, as far as I know, there's only one of me in this here body of mine, so I guess I'll take the few screws loose option." I sat up. "Even if I still take some offense to it. I still haven't got this whole combat thing down quite yet." _'Tell me something I don't know guys. If I had any idea just what the hell had been going on with me back there, I'd tell you. But I don't. No idea whatsoever.'_

"I'm just glad things turned out how they did." Allegra said, tossing my blaster back to me.

Thankfully, I managed to catch it properly. "What, having a bunch of thugs assault our arses because their leader is the worst sore loser there ever was? I'd prefer it to have gone a much more civilised and somewhat less violent way."

"What I meant is that we managed to pull things off without anyone being seriously injured."

"Hm, that's a valid point."

Zaalbar growled something in agreement.

Bastila, who seemed to have been ignoring our conversation for the past minute or so, was brushing herself off, deactivated lightsaber in hand. And no doubt (though this is sheer speculation) wishing she was in her customary robes instead of the skanky little outfit she was wearing right now.

"_I find such an outfit...flattering." _For a total pervert maybe...wait?

I shook my head, thinking that somewhere in that mess of a battle I'd taken another blow to the head. Enough with the damn voices already, I'm crazy enough as it is.

"Well, that could have gone better." She said, finally seeing fit to talk to us.

I raised my hands in the air, blaster sitting in my lap. "See, I'm not the only one."

She raised an eyebrow in my direction, still sitting on the floor, before addressing Allegra.

"But if you think you can collect me as a prize you are sorely mistaken. I am..."

"...the Jedi we've been looking for this entire time?" I blinked innocently at her, acting as if I hadn't spoken at all when she looked my way again. Of course, part of my brain had detoured off to decide which time I liked her voice better, Bastila or a female Jaden Korr out of Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. Or comparing the two, I'm not exactly sure which.

"Bastila?" Carth said. At the sound of her name, the young Jedi turned her head to look at him, then looked at Allegra and then the pieces seemed to click into place.

"Carth? Carth Onasi?"

Carth nodded. "Yes ma'am. I'm glad you're alive."

"As am I." She looked back at Allegra again. "And you must be...the scout from the_ Endar Spire_. My apologies for earlier."

"No worries. I'm not sure if you remember, but my name is..."

"Allegra Khan." Bastila said calmly, like she'd practiced the name a million times. Probably had.

"Uh, yes. Heh, well I guess we both were on board..."

"You were transferred to the _Spire_ under my command, yes."

"..." Allegra blinked a few times. "Okaaay." She coughed a little nervously and set about introducing the rest of us. "Anyway, you already know Carth, so, the blue Twi'lek over there is Mission Vao and the Wookie's her friend Zaalbar."

"Finally, things are looking up." Carth said. "Maybe now we can make a move getting off this planet." Allegra nodded in agreement. Bastila's expression was hard to read. I'm not even sure what Mission and Zaalbar thought about it all.

I decided it was my turn for introductions, having been left out of Allegra's little speech because of Carth's interruption."Anyway I'm..."

"Appearing ridiculously androgynous and apparently cannot defend yourself?" Bastila finished, barely even looking my way.

I recoiled, like I'd been slapped in the face, and one of my hands started playing with the end of my ponytail. "Hey! Lay off will ya? I didn't exactly..."

"Just who exactly are you?"

'_Well Miss High and Mighty, I'm Jess **** from Planet Earth where all this is a video game and I can bitch all I like about your conceitedness to the screen to my heart's content without having the backlash.'_

"****, Jess ****." I said, then realised I'd managed to randomly do a James Bond reference and felt like a total idiot. The fact Bastila was looking at me like I was a total idiot didn't exactly help either. "Ahem, and I'm actually a girl..." I ignored the split second odd expression on Carth's face as I said that, letting my hair down. "See? Not so ridiculously androgynous now, am I?" _'No, now you look like a flat-chested adolescent...'_

"Well, seeing that we've rescued you maybe now we can start planning a way to get off this planet." Allegra said, trying to move things along once again.

"Rescued me? I think it's fair to say I rescued all of you, after that mess." Bastila replied.

Allegra looked a little pissed off at that. "**You** rescued **us**? Excuse me, if I remember right somebody was incapacitated until about, oh I don't know, five minutes ago?"

I covered my mouth with my hands, lest somebody catch the smile my lips had curved into upon hearing Allegra shut down Bastila.

"So, I think it's fair to say that yes, **we** rescued **you**. Mess or no mess." Crossing her arms across her chest, Allegra cocked her hips the side, the expression on her face daring Bastila to contradict her.

'_This woman is just too awesome.'_

"Anyway, I will be here with Carth once you're ready to admit that." Grabbing Carth by the arm, she wandered a short distance off, taking Onasi with her.

Mission and I watched them go, before exchanging a look of raised eyebrows between us. Then Zaalbar growled/barked something that deemed her attention and I was on my own.

Coming to the conclusion my best bet was to probably make a better impression of myself to Bastila, considering how things had gone down earlier, so I wandered over to the Jedi with that intent in mind.

"Nice to finally meet you, after hearing Carth bang on about ya." I held out my hand, a warm, hopefully friendly looking smile on my face. She stared at it. I waited a second or two more, before giving up. This woman is just way too icy for her own good. I mean, the two of us couldn't be more different, especially in looks. The woman makes me look like some awkward, gawky teenager (especially with my current lack of breasts) and we're practically the same age. Well, she's probably a year or two older than me, but that's technicalities.

"So, bet you're glad to be out of that cage and in better hands, huh?"

She barely acknowledged my presence. "And what, pray tell, do you define as 'better hands'?"

"Uh, well, us...obviously."

"Considering the display I saw earlier, the others are more on the list then yourself."

"Well, nobody said it was just me, nor did they say...all of us were the most capable." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "But hey, at least you know, you'll have some company around your age now?"

'_Why do you have to be so socially inept sometimes?'_

Her eyes narrowed a little."Just how old do you think I am?"

"What? I didn't mean..." I stopped, then realised just what idea she had in her head about me. "Hey, I'm not a kid. I might not quite look it right now but I'm almost twenty and you're like, what, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two?" _'It's the bindings! It has to be! That's why everyone thinks I'm younger!'_

"Age has nothing to do with anything between us."

I swear I had to stop my brain from corrupting that sentence and fast before I said anything stupid. "I know, I just meant...you know what, I'm going to stop right there before this gets even more convoluted."

"A wise decision."

"_You're telling me."_

"Right, right, right."

We were both silent for a moment and I realised she hadn't quite thanked me for my help quite yet.

"Yes?" She eventually said, seeing that I was looking at her somewhat expectantly.

"Sooo..." I shifted my feet. "Isn't there something you should be saying?"

She raised an eyebrow. "And that would be?"

"Uh...thank you. For, you know, tossing that there lightsaber your way earlier..."

"While helpful, it was also a distraction that any of those Vulkars could have taken advantage of. I'm lucky your attempt didn't end badly."

"Well, geez, I was just trying to help. You don't have to shoot me down like some arrogant pig."

She frowned. "I am **not** arrogant. It would simply more beneficial if you thought before you acted."

"I **do** think before I act, thank you very much missy. I am quite the spur of the moment genius I'll have you know."

"Is that so? And how many successes has this 'spur of the moment genius' received thus far?"

"Uh...two."

"And therein lies my point."

"Hey, it was two out of two attempts!"

"And out of these, two attempts, did either almost get you killed?"

"Uh, well, you see..."

"Exactly." She turned her back on me. "You might want to rethink adding "genius" in that earlier statement."

"Well, looky here Miss High and Mighty, we can't all be Jedi with fancy powers wielding double-bladed laser swords of death now can we?" I bitched. Even the others didn't give me this much crap for being stupid. Sure, Carth called me insane, but nothing this mean.

"I never said that." She said, her normal icy tone getting an edge to it.

"No, but you pretty much implied it. That counts in my book."

She turned back to face me, deciding what she was about to say was better delivered face to face. "Perhaps this book of yours needs a page where you learn how to hold your own in combat."

"You know, I didn't come on this little crazy train only to be insulted by the very woman I was helping rescue."

"It seemed to me you were the one in need of rescuing back there. I managed to rescue myself thank you very much."

Her behaviour was starting to get right on my nerves and in the end, I couldn't take it anymore so without really thinking...

"Oh for fucks sake!" ...I slapped her. "Can't you just be thankful someone tried to do something helpful for you for once?

And then what I just did caught up to me big time.

'_Oh shit.'_

**-()-**

**Some Random: *smirks* I think I'll leave it there. You'll have to wait till next chapter to see how Basty deals with me. I have nothing really against her, honest. Hell, in real life I probably wouldn't have the guts to slap her, annoyed or not. Threaten to, yes. Pull it off, no. Hopefully nothing comes off as Basty-bashing because that was not my intention. As for the weird **_**italicised**_** commentary, that was intentional. If you've put the pieces together already, good on you. As for "me" it may take a little longer...**

**Argh, and I swear I need to improve my fight scene writing, they still sound like shit on the page and a million times better in my head, especially the bit with the sniper...but maybe that's just me? Once again, reviews make the world, or in this case the story, go round so please drop me one. *puppy dog eyes***

**Next: Complications...**


	7. Chapter 7

**Some Random: Good God, Chapter 7 is finally done and about bloody time. It's long, full of my rambles, but it's done. Been through a lot this past two months and then some, so no wonder it took this long. Uni exams, going back to uni, mega birthday party weekends, personal developments/dramas...so yeah, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, in case you were wondering, just had a lot to deal with that I won't go into. But it's all sorted now. Ahem, anyway, thanks to all my lovely reviewers for their reviews. I love you guys! In a totally platonic, so not homosexual (if you happen to be the same gender as me), author loving her readers, type way... Not as happy with this as I'd like, but maybe I'm just over Taris. Stuff should have flowed little better, argh, so much should have been better. Screw it all...Anyway, so last chapter we had the swoop race, gay jokes, snipers, the after race skirmish, Jess apparently hearing voices (again) and, of course, she also slapped Bastila! *grabs popcorn* Now on with the show...er, chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Within Temptation owns the song Murder, George Lucas owns Star Wars and Bioware owns KotOR. As for me, well, I just play around with the latter and slap one of the main characters...**

Chapter Seven - Complications...

'_Holy crap...'_

I'd done it. I'd actually gone and done it. Someone somewhere was probably cheering that I'd done what I'd done. Many people even. What had I done? Let's recap, shall we?

I'd slapped Bastila. I'd honest to God slapped her. And a real slap too, a real mighty fine bitch slap to the face.

'_Holy freakin' crap...'_

Now? I was realising just what I'd done. Well, that was right up until...

Smack!

...she slapped me right back. Took me completely off guard I can tell ya.

'_She hit me!'_

Green-hazel eyes met grey, one glaring and the other cold. I was sorely tempted to slap her right back, though at the same time wondering just what the others were thinking about all of this.

"Bitch!" I exclaimed. "So uncalled for!" Okay, so that was technically untrue but I was within my rights to...say whatever the hell I wanted?

"Excuse me?" Her voice raised a little. "You hit me first!"

"Well maybe if you hadn't been such a bitch, I wouldn't have done it in the first place!"

"That is no excuse for your behaviour!"

"Says the woman that slapped me right back!"

"_She had it coming, in my opinion." _What is with this weird commentary I seem to keep getting? Maybe when I have time, I'll figure it out, but right now I had better things to be doing. _"If I were keeping score, however, it would be a tie at 1 all after that slap she gave you."_

"Ladies!" Carth shouted, interrupting us both.

In some weird bout of almost telepathy, Bastila and I turned towards him at the same time to say the same thing: "Shut up!" Well, I think whatever she said was slightly different and much more Bastila-like. I wasn't really listening so I wouldn't know. Onasi recoiled much like he'd just been slapped too, clearly not expecting that reaction.

Allegra planted herself between us. "I think that's enough out of both of you."

"Aw come on, the bitch was just _asking_ for it and you know it." I said, trying to peer past Allegra to see Bastila's reaction.

"Watch your mouth." Bastila snapped from the other side.

'_Ooh, gettin' a little testy there Basty, too bad I'm lovin' it...and why the hell did that sentence just remind me of McDonalds?'_

"Why don't you take the stick outta your arse, preferably so I can then impale you with it?" I gave her a sarcastically sweet smile over Allegra's shoulder. "In the meantime, I'm off to converse with people that **don't** treat me like a second class citizen. Tatty-bye!"

As I turned my back on her, walking over towards Mission, I almost giggled at the inherent similarity my goodbye had to Reaver in Fable 3, but in this case, I knew better.

'_Jess 2, Basty 1...'_

Feeling somewhat smug and on top of the world, I forgot one teeny detail about Miss Jedi Princess...

"What the fuc..."

...she gets you back when you least expect it.

'_Why did I not see this coming? She did the exact same thing to Mission in the game!'_

I sent a particularly vicious glare towards Bastila from the floor, but the fact she wasn't even looking in my direction kinda defeated the purpose. Giving up, I clambered to my feet, brushing myself off.

'_Make that 2 all, another tie. Things have certainly gotten off to an interesting start. Wait, I don't remember starting to think of keeping score...'_

Part of me was wondering about where the whole slapping incident would rate on Bioware's little "morality" scale with the game. Dark side points gained? If so, I couldn't give a shit. The whole episode had been worth it. Well, apart from the practically falling flat on my face because someone's misusing her Jedi powers part, I could have done without that. Although I really should have seen that coming, after what she does to Mission in the game. Hm, maybe Mission should take a leaf out of my book and not go there when it's her turn...then again, I kinda hope not solely for the entertainment value of such a similar incident. I'm like that. And I guess nobody could really tell that it was Bastila that had made me fall over, I'm a little of a klutz regardless.

"We should probably get out of here before anyone else turns up." Carth said, moving things along after the little tiff between Bastila and I. "Fighting one swoop gang today was enough."

'_Sadly, no mention of just how epically awesome slapping a certain Ice Princess was...or perhaps it's just me that thinks that?'_

Allegra nodded. "I'll need my things. Gadon didn't think it overly wise for a racer to go to the race armed, so had me leave them back at the Bek base. After that we..."

"We can get some proper work done and find a way off this planet." Bastila interrupted. "The sooner the better, don't you agree?"

Allegra gritted her teeth, trying not to get too worked up. "Yes, I was just about to say that."

"Right. Well, what are we waiting for?"

I looked at Allegra, and from the look on her face, I could guess just what she wanted to say to Bastila, as much as she was trying to stop herself with the aim to keep things civil.

'_Say it...say it...'_

"And just who put **you** in charge?" Of course, pride won out in the end. I bet somewhere deep in her subconscious, Revan is steaming at being possibly ousted as leader.

'_Of course Basty should know better, considering she knows just who Allegra really is...'_

"The Council put me in charge of..."

"To hell with the Jedi Council, I'm talking about some kind of authority that matters to someone like me. Like, I don't know, the Republic?" Allegra flicked stray strands of her red hair out of her face. "So tell me, little miss Jedi, who put you in charge?"

'_Man I love this woman...in a totally platonic manner of course...'_

"That is a rather impertinent accusation."

Who the hell was she, Isolde? On second thought, I'm gonna stop referencing Dragon Age: Origins right there and then, otherwise who knows where this would go.

"Before we start arguing over who's in charge, I suggest we get a move on. We don't exactly have all the time in the world." Carth said, ignoring the glaring contest that seemed to be going on between Bastila and Allegra. Hm, guess that's what you get for putting two stubborn women in the same room. Actually, three if you count me...

"_Four."_

"As much as I'd like to see the two of you verbally rip each other apart, Onasi has a point." I said, adding my two cents worth.

"_Or they could wrestle...preferably naked."_

"Jess?" Mission said, looking at me oddly. "Are you okay?"

"Er, what?" I wiped the strange look from my face brought on by an image (I wasn't quite even sure what word to use to describe it) a voice in my head, that seemed to come from nowhere, had provoked. "Uh yeah, I'm fine." I really didn't need to have in my head the idea of Bastila and Allegra...you know what, I'm stopping there. Really not good for the subconscious, especially my subconscious right about now...

"You sure?"

"Oh, I always pull odd faces for no reason." I lied. "Usually when I think something weird that isn't worth sharing." Technically not entirely a lie. These things do happen. And usually when I don't know how to explain why said thoughts/images or whatever decided to pop into my head.

"Okay, if you say so."

'_Phew, that was a close one. Although I am mighty curious as to why I am once again hearing voices in the first place.'_

"We'll head back to the Bek base and then on to the Upper City." Allegra said, obviously having moved on while Mission and I had been preoccupied with my strange face pulling. "Likely somebody up there will have some information about the Sith quarantine and perhaps the means to a way off world."

'_Cough, Canderous, cough...'_

"Sounds good." I said, and Mission nodded in agreement, Zaalbar giving an affirmative growl. Something then occurred to me and I couldn't help but bring it up.

"Stupid question but how are we going to get Miss High and Mighty here" I ignored the look Bastila gave me "past the Sith at the elevator? Considering they're all on the lookout for her and everything."

"Hm, good point." Carth replied. "With the Sith still hunting for her, having her walk about the Upper City without some kind of cover would have them onto us quicker than you can say..."

"...totally busted?" The strange telepathy thing struck again, only with Mission and I this time.

"You could say that, yes."

Mission looked thoughtful, and then spared a glance at me. "Maybe if we give her Jess's shirt, she'll..."

"No way, bad idea." I replied, adamant my shirt was going nowhere near Bastila. And not just because I didn't want her wearing it.

Mission looked at me curiously. "Why?"

"It'd just make things worse. In fact, I'm not even going to be wearing this shirt when we go back up."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with a stolen Sith uniform would it?"

"Maybe..."

"So how are we going to get Bastila past the guard then?"

"I'll think of something." Allegra said. "I'm a bit of the spur of the moment genius myself."

"Wonderful." Bastila said, sarcastically.

"If it's anything like Jess's we may have to duck for cover." Carth joked, and Allegra slapped him on the shoulder.

I frowned. "I'm standing right here you know. Geez."

She looked at Zaalbar, me and Mission then, looking quite serious. "The three of you don't need to continue on with us, it wouldn't be fair to drag you any further into our mess."

What? Oh like hell no! I'm not being left behind to be blown to smithereens and I ain't letting Mish and Big Z suffer the same fate either. Big tick to the Light Side box for ol' Rev here though, concerned about her little posse's well being, even if doing so is slightly Dark Sided because we're going to die anyway.

"I'm in this for the long run." I said. "And a way off-world is sounding mighty good right now. Plus you guys look like you could use the extra help."

Mission nodded in agreement with me, before sparing a glance at Zaalbar. "Big Z swore a life debt to you Allegra, he isn't going anywhere and neither am I. Like Jess said, we're in this for the long run."

"I just don't want to put you into any unnecessary danger, especially if there's a chance to avoid it."

'_Sweetheart, by having us tagging along, you're practically saving our lives. Don't push the envelope...'_

"Eh, I'll probably get myself killed one way or another." I said, waving my hand to dismiss her statement. "Not to mention the Sith would be all over my arse regardless, because of this darn uniform." I grinned. "Face it, it'd be boring without Mish and me around."

Zaalbar let out a short bark and a growl.

"You too buddy." I looked at Mission. "He did say what I think he said, right?"

She laughed. "You really need to get out more."

"How the hell do you think I wound up on Taris in the first place? First attempt at getting out more and look what happened. I suck, plain and simple."

"Well, I wasn't going to say that, but seeing as you did...yeah, you do."

"We're wasting time." Bastila said, interrupting Mission and I's merry-making.

"Right." Allegra said. "To the Bek base then."

I nodded. "Lead on, oh fearless leader."

Oh, if only the camera on my phone worked...the look on Bastila's face was just _priceless_...

**-()-**

I sat on a small stack on crates in the Bek base as we waited for Allegra, Mission sitting beside me and Zaalbar standing near us. Carth was deep in discussion with Bastila about something nearby, which I had no hope in hearing. Not that I was overly interested in eavesdropping on Jedi Princess and Onasi.

"Hey Jess?" Mission then said, bringing me out of my daze.

I turned my head to look at her. "Yeah Mish?"

"Just what the hell went on back there?"

I gave her a weird look. "Back where?"

"Back when we were fighting that sniper."

"What about it?"

"Don't you remember?"

I shook my head. "To be honest I barely remember anything between after he smashed me into that wall, and when I was threatening him with my blaster."

"You were practically strangling the guy with his own rifle at one point. How the hell can you not remember?"

"Heat of the battle?" I said, though the excuse still sounded pretty cheesy. My insides however, were tying themselves up into knots.

'_Just what the hell is going on?'_

"Just..." I paused, thinking my next question through. "...what exactly happened after, well, after I got smashed into that wall? To refresh my memory."

"You really don't remember?"

I shook my head and then came up with a straightforward excuse. "Blows to the head are pretty good at knocking the brain cells out of you, so no wonder. Just answer the question Mish."

She gave me the same concerned look she'd given me back at the swoop track after we'd finished fighting the sniper.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I had to ask.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm suddenly going to turn around and beat the crap out of you. That's twice now."

"It's nothing."

"No, it's not nothing. 'Specially if you do it more than once."

"Fine. I'm worried about you, is all."

"Well, that figures. Worried why exactly?"

"You...didn't seem the same back there. It was...a little scary to be honest."

My brow furrowed. "Now you've lost me. Didn't seem the same how?"

"Not like this, like you are now."

I shrugged, figuring that was my best move as I had no idea what else to do. "I'm not always crazy lovable me, I get pissed off just like everyone else. I mean, you saw me and Bastila before right?" I sighed. "Look, I don't know what I did, or what you saw me do but it's probably nothing. Okay, not nothing exactly but...complicated." I looked at her pointedly. "You still haven't told me just what happened. I have nothing to go on."

"You beat that Vulkar sniper up so bad he probably can't even remember his own name. You, who can't even swing a sword properly, let alone hit someone with it."

"Okay, so it appears when I'm out of it from being knocked into walls, I go crazy and punch the shit out of people. Evil people I might add. What's the problem? I got the job done, didn't I? I stopped him finishing his task, stopped him picking off Allegra to prevent her winning. It doesn't take much to fist fight someone, well, at least I don't think so. All right I'm lanky and dodging is probably my best tactic but hey, I can throw a few punches. I'm not that incompetent." _'And I'm rambling...again.'_

"You don't think that's weird? Especially since you don't remember?"

'_Sweetie, I think it's very weird, but so is how I got here in the first place. Everything practically screams weird to me, but there's no explanation forthcoming so I'm deciding to avoid it for now.'_

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't but...there's probably some kind of rational explanation for all this somewhere. We just have to look for it."

"Maybe. Just...be careful."

"Me?" I managed a stupid smile. "I'm always careful."

"If you say so."

"Stop worrying, I'm practically harmless. You've seen me fight after all."

Although as I dropped the conversation upon Allegra's return, I swear I heard her mutter "It's not you I'm worried about...it's whoever that was." before everything moved on.

'_Then who was it if not me?'_

The first thing I noticed was she, Allegra, was back in her scout uniform, dual blasters sitting snugly in their holsters on her hips. Of course, then it was all down to business.

"We ready?" She asked us all.

"Just...give me a second." After detaching the shoulder pauldrons of the armour, I slipped my red shirt off, and tucked it away into my bag. Popping the pauldrons back on, I turned back to them. "Okay, we're good."

"Wonderful. Perhaps we can get something done, without mucking about." Bastila said, obviously a veiled (at least she probably thought so) dig at me. Or maybe not. It's her, how the bloody hell am I supposed to know?

"Well up yours little miss Jedi, I'll fart-arse around all I bloody well like..."

She looked at me pointedly. "Are you always this belligerent?"

"No. But for your sake, I'm making an effort." What can I say? I wasn't in the mood to be nice to her right about now. Maybe later...

She frowned something nasty at me, before moving on ahead to walk with Carth and Allegra.

"You're doing this on purpose." Mission said.

"Hm? Doing what on purpose?"

"Annoying Bastila."

"Mission, how dare you. I'm perfectly innocent me, with a halo and everything." I made a circle with my fingers above my head. "See?"

She shook her head and gave me a playful shove in the shoulder. "Knock it off, you weirdy."

I grinned, lowering my arms and keeping pace with her and Zaalbar behind the others as we made our way to the elevator. "Okay, okay."

"But you are purposefully being a pain in the arse to her."

I shrugged. "Hey, sometimes it's fun getting on someone else's nerves. Especially someone who needs a swift kick up the backside to get off their stupid pedestal." _'Might as well get some kicks out of life before it all turns serious. Plus, she does __**kinda**__ deserve it, right now at least... I will stop...eventually.'_

"Uh huh."

The two of us stopped as our little group finally reached our destination.

"All right, this is it." Allegra said, palming the door open. "Next stop: the Upper City."

"Whoopee." I said, with mock enthusiasm, which Mission just rolled her eyes at.

'_Note to self: Do not get arrested...'_

**-()-**

Allegra's "I'll think of something" turned out to be little more than distracting the elevator's guard while the rest of us snuck past with Bastila. I'm surprised it worked, although a) the guy's a bit of a slacker if my journey down was anything to go by (unless it's someone else this time round and they're all slack-offs) and b) we have an amnesiac Revan on our side. Okay, so maybe the last bit doesn't have anything to do with anything, but it's still true. Especially as she's apparently a military genius or something ridiculous. And that means she's gotta be pretty smart...or just good with tactics. Hm, I'm going to let this one lie for now...

We blended with the crowd, Bastila in the middle of the group so there was less chance of the Sith spotting her amongst all of us. It was kinda odd to be implementing all this stealth stuff with her, considering in the game you can just walk around with her in the Upper City and the Sith don't so much as bat an eyelash. Of course, I had more on my mind then hiding Bastila from the Sith, namely avoiding being caught out myself.

'_Let's just hope the guy who's armour I'm currently wearing doesn't decide to randomly show up...that would seriously throw a spanner in the works...'_

"Carth and I will head back to the apartment with Bastila. You three can start looking around for any information you can find that might help us get off world." Allegra said in a low voice to avoid being overhead by others, as we continued down the street. "We'll meet up with you at the Upper City cantina in about, say, an hour and a half?"

"Roger that." I said. "Just one question first though."

"Shoot."

"Where's this apartment? It'd be good to know just where our little base of operations is, should we need to go there without you guys." Sure, **I** knew where it was already, or at least vaguely, but it's not like Mission or Zaalbar did. Plus, it was kinda stalker-ish to know just where her and Carth had been hiding out without asking first. And very suspicious, which was something I didn't want at all. Especially after I'd made up with Carth not that long ago.

After getting directions for the apartment off Allegra, Mission, Zaalbar and I set about fulfilling our tasks. Of course, I had no idea where to "look" first without giving everything away. Then again, there was no guarantee that the Mandalorian was even in the Upper City cantina at this moment, or would be anytime soon. No way of knowing when either.

"Sooo..." I said to Mission, as the other three left us behind. "...where do we start?"

"That's good question. I suppose the first thing we could do is wander around the streets a little, see if we can pick up any useful information about the Sith base."

"The Sith base? Whatever for?"

"They're the ones enforcing the darn quarantine, there's got to be word coming out of there somehow about what's going on, how they manage to get through. That's probably why Allegra suggested we all meet at the cantina. Find a drunk Sith and talk him or her into spilling their guts."

"Makes sense. Not like I have any other ideas."

She nodded and the two of us began strolling down the street, Zaalbar trailing along behind us.

"So, you been up here in the Upper City before?" I had to ask.

"Once or twice. Never really liked it too much to be honest. At least in the Lower City I could walk around without some human staring down their nose at me, just because I'm different."

"You know the first thing I thought of the folks up here was they were a right bunch of racist snobs and I wanted very little to do with them." I couldn't help but smile a little. "I mean, they did the same thing to me, and I'm human just like them. Of course, it could have been my dress sense."

She returned my smile with one of her own. "Could have been, with that shirt of yours."

I poked her in the ribs. "I happen to like that shirt, thank you very much."

"I thought as much. It's odd seeing you without it though."

"Odd how exactly?"

"Well, I can't spot you in the crowd so easy now, without that shirt of yours to look out for."

"You know exactly why I'm not wearing it. I don't want the Sith all over my arse thank you very much. It'd be like gang rape with guns..." I pulled a face. "Forget I said that last part..."

"I doubt they'll even recognise you. If I know one thing about the Sith in the Upper City, it's that they're pretty stupid. I've pick-pocketed Vulkars with more brains then some of those folks."

"I don't know Mish..."

"You could always, I don't know, make up some story on how the shirt came into your possession, making you out to be some poor soul who took it from the chick the Sith are looking for."

"It's almost like you're trying to talk me into wearing it again."

"It'd make it easier to find you. From behind you look like any old Sith soldier walking around, albeit one without a helmet, but still."

I sighed. "Let's just start poking about for info on getting off world, rather than rambling about my shirt. That would be much more productive I think."

"If you say so."

Zaalbar barked his agreement. Ha, barked. Bloody keeps reminding me of dogs damn it.

"So, let's get a move on."

Mission nodded. "Okay, you take one end of the street and I'll take the other."

"Wait, you want to split up?" _'Not sure if I like this idea, I might just get lost like last time I was up here. And then who knows what kind of trouble I'd get into.'_

"Yeah, we'd cover more ground that way."

"But Big Z's just going to follow you, I'll be left all on my lonesome."

"You'll manage."

"Mish, I'm not sure about this."

"Why? Afraid you'll get lost?"

I pulled a face. "No." _'Maybe just a little...'_

"Then what's the problem?"

"Nothing. Fine, splitting up it is."

"Good. Meet me by Kebla's weapon shop in say, one hour? That should be enough time to peruse both ends of the street, shouldn't it? Then we'll head to the cantina in time to meet up with the others."

"Uh...sure." I tried not to balk at the idea of trying to find the place on my own. "Weapon shop, one hour. Gotcha."

"Right. I'll see you then."

I watched her skip off down the street, feeling an odd sense of foreboding in the pit of my stomach.

"There goes my one chance at 100% certainty of not getting lost." I muttered to myself, mentally berating myself for being such an idiot and agreeing to this whole scheme. Maybe I should have swallowed pride and asked for directions before she'd run off. And what about...aw shit, how the hell was I going to tell the time and when one hour was up?

'_Fuck. I am so screwed.'_

"_Oh for Force's sake, stop complaining and do something productive! Honestly..."_

Hm, inner voice seemed to be right on track for once. But it doesn't sound like my usual opposite side of negative thinking thought voice to stop me being pessimistic. Sounds like that weird one that keeps bloody commenting on everything I do. Screwing my eyes shut and shaking my head to clear it, I blinked a few times to refocus everything then headed off down the street. It'd do me no good standing around like a moron and doing nothing, trying to accomplish something was better than that.

'_Let's just hope I don't get bloody lost again. That would be positively __**embarrassing**__...'_

Sometime later...

"Damn it, I knew splitting up was a bad idea." I grumbled, searching for Mission. "It shouldn't be this hard to find a blue Twi'lek and a massive Wookie in the Upper City anyway. I mean, they practically stick out like a sore thumb up here, opposed to me and...well, me."

Of course, as usual, my fears were confirmed. I not only lost Mission and Zaalbar, but I was quite certain I was lost too. My luck to finding anything out hadn't gone too well either, though then again, I already knew how these guys were going to get off world so I could just wing it and make some shit up to tell Mission that isn't too suspicious. That would work, wouldn't it?

'_Weapon shop. That was usually right next to the cantina, wasn't it? But I have no idea where the cantina is, so that's no help...'_

Stopping, I tried not to spaz out for the millionth time upon realising I wasn't wearing my red shirt anymore. Dirty and with a small scorch mark on the back from a blaster shot in the Vulkar base, it had been with me since I'd arrived in this damn place and it felt weird to not have it on.

'_Silly woman, you know exactly why you're not wearing it. First Sith that sees you in it and bam! It's off to the base with you.' _I came to a stop along the street, somewhat annoyed that my hunt for Mission and Zaalbar was going south and my weirdness over not having a certain piece of clothing on. My fingers twitched, almost as if to remind me I wasn't wearing my rings either, and that's really a nervous tick of mine that gets on my nerves. I stopped rubbing my thumb (where one of said rings usually sits) with my index finger and tried to focus on important things.

'_It probably couldn't hurt wearing it...the shirt I mean...wouldn't they recognise you by face anyway? Or your hair considering you have it down at the moment, or something else other than the shirt? Mission's probably right...'_

With a sigh, I wound up giving in to temptation and promptly started rooting through my bag for that lovely shirt of mine. Dragging it out, I dumped my bag down at my feet, popped the pauldrons back off, and slipped it back on. Stretching my arms a few times so it settled on me properly, I readjusted my armour (including those bloody pauldrons) to fit with my shirt back on again before picking up my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. Of course, I didn't think at the time that putting my red shirt back on was just asking for trouble. Probably because I hadn't been accosted within five minutes of setting foot in the Upper City. And like we've seen so far, there are things with which I don't really think of the consequences first before I act...like slapping Bastila for instance.

Feeling a little more comfortable in my new default ensemble, I wandered down the street, still wondering just where Mission had gotten to. Maybe with the shirt on, she'll find me instead?

'_God, I felt so naked without this...although I'd feel better wearing my normal clothes instead of this pain in the arse armour...'_

"Now to find that bloody Twi'lek." I muttered, pushing some of my fringe out of my face. "Well, if I can find that darn weapon shop she mentioned that is. The one beside the cantina whose location I don't know either."

'_Wait...wasn't the cantina in the same area as the apartment aka main base of operations? And Allegra did give me directions for that...'_

A light bulb seemed to go off in my head as I continued down the street, squishing through a crowd of people heading in the opposite direction.

'_Of course! If I find the apartment complex then surely I can figure out where both the cantina and the weapon shop is. Finally! Things are looking up!'_

Grinning like an idiot at my own genius, I set of in a slow jog, certain I'd missed the one hour deadline already. Pushing past another group of people (and not caring that a particularly snobby one almost got knocked over in the process), I felt relief when I recognised this area, having passed through it earlier escorting Bastila with the others. Finally, things were looking up. Okay, so I'd probably have to admit to Mission I'd gotten lost, but that was trivial compared to the bigger picture. If I'd remained lost, I would have wound up dead, so a little lost dignity I can handle.

"That's her right there!"

I suddenly stopped, strangely almost recognising the male voice calling out nearby.

"I'd recognise that ridiculous red shirt anywhere!"

Now hang on just a darn second there, who the devil is paying out **my** shirt in the middle of the Upper City and getting away with it?

'_I should give that jackass a piece of my...oh shit.'_

I turned around to see just what the hell was going on, only to find myself confronted by a pair of Sith soldiers in their shiny armour...and one more without it.

'_I'm in __**deep**__ shit here...why on earth did I actually put this shirt back on? Stupid, stupid woman!'_

"Hiya!" I said, brain lacking the ability to form a better response, a cheesy nervous grin on my face. "Nice...uh, day we're having?"

"_I'd start running now if I were you..."_

The two armoured soldiers grabbed me by the arms.

"_...but then again, I'm not..."_

"Really fellas, can't we just talk about this? Whatever the problem is, I can explain."

My answer was the butt of a blaster rifle to the back of the head, and everything went black.

**-()-**

"Nghh..." I groaned, coming to only to be greeted by the sight of some kind of containment field.

'_What the...?' _I blinked a few times, and the room came into proper focus and I couldn't be more depressed. Turns out I was in some kind of prison cell, in none other than the Sith military base. The shiny armoured solider standing near the entrance was a **big** hint. Oh, and the force field, can't forget that.

'_Fan-fucking-tastic.' _Seems my stolen Sith armour had just called up its consequences, and at the most inconvenient time too. Although it appeared I wasn't the only one the Sith had imprisoned here, at least from the number of other force field cages I could see. Even one right beside me, with a...Duros I think it was, inside.

Leaning back against what wall there was to lean back against, I sighed, sending my fringe floating up. "This is all just peachy perfect."

"Hey, kid."

"Why did I **not** see this coming?" _'Just like the crap with Bastila.'_

"Oi, kid in the next cell..."

"I mean really..." I rested my head on my hand, staring out past the force field keeping me in. "...am I that much of an idiot to not think I'd get into shit the minute I made it back to the Upper City? Especially putting that bloody red shirt back on. What was I thinking? Must have been **out** of my **mind**."

"Hey you, kid talking to yourself..."

I scowled, sending a nasty glare to the Duros (who oddly I could understand) in the cell next to mine. "Do you mind? I'm trying to have a perfectly good rant here..."

Silence for a few seconds, he gave me a weird look and then went right back at it. "So...what you in for?"

I buried my face in my hands. _'Do I __**have**__ to get stuck in the same detention place as the stupid people who can't take a hint?'_

"Seriously?" I snapped. "Does it **look** like I'm in the mood to talk?" _'I'm tired, somewhat hungry, pissed off and detained. I can be as belligerent and unfriendly as I damn want, thank you very much.'_

That seemed to do the trick, as he backed off after that one. Probably shouldn't be too harsh on the poor guy though. He's in the same kind of shit situation I was at the moment.

'_It's most likely he's one of that pair of Duros you meet upon exiting the apartment, the one that hides the bodies of the Sith and then gets caught up about it. And I'm in here for knocking out a Sith soldier and stealing his uniform. To be fair, he did assault me first...'_

But sitting around and complaining about the situation wasn't going to get me anywhere, much less out of the cell and back to the others.

'_Shit, I'd forgotten about those guys...'_

Mission was probably wondering just where the hell I'd gotten to, certainly by now she should. We did say an hour and I had to have been gone for at least two. Longer even, depending on how long I'd been unconscious after being bashed in the back of the head with a blaster rifle. Didn't half hurt either, I think I preferred Canderous slapping me back there to be honest. The most I could do now was come up with a way to escape this cell and get the hell outta this place, before something really got fucked up. I closed my eyes, trying to kick my brain into gear and figure a way out of this place. The beeping of an utility droid then got my attention, and cracking an eye open, it took me a second before I realised that the utility droid at work near my cell was none other then...

"Oh my gosh!"

...T3? What the devil was he doing in here?

'_You're supposed to be at that droid shop buddy...hm, guess that's another plotline unravelled.'_

At last, a plan was starting to rip its way through my little brain, and I hoped to hell that it'd work. First things first, I had to get out of the cell. Although let's also hope little T3 isn't happy working for the Sith...

'_Time for this spur of the moment genius of mine...regardless of just how insane it usually is...'_

"Oi! Fat arse!"

The Sith soldier by the door shifted their feet, not acknowledging me.

"Fatty by the door!"

Their head turned a little to face my direction, but made no other move. Obviously they were trying their best to ignore me. Hm, okay, so that hadn't worked. I pursed my lips, trying to think of another approach.

'_Think, think...there's got to be a way out of here...'_

If there had been room in my little cell, I probably would have started pacing. As it was, staring at the wall with a furrowed brow would have to do.

"Someone **really** hates you out there..." I said to the Sith soldier who simply muttered something under their breath.

"...so bored and _lonely_..." A wink. And...nope, nothing. God damn it. If only they didn't wear that freakin' helmet, I would be able to see their face and judge their expression. Maybe that's the point.

"Must be hard, guarding prisoners all day long. Prisoners in cages they couldn't possibly escape from."

"It's extra precaution. You might get lucky." They said at last, that stupid synthesised voice sounding oddly...female? Hm, no wonder the half-arsed flirting technique didn't work before.

'_Gosh blimey, the first female Sith I've run into on this god forsaken planet...'_

"Pff. Get lucky? Darling, with this lovely little force field, I'd get frazzled before I tried anything. Face it, you've drawn the short straw and I bet all your squad mates are secretly laughing at you behind your back."

'_Really wish I could see faces here, it would make seeing if my remarks are hitting home all that much easier.'_

She (though as I've probably said before, it was still really hard to tell) shifted uncomfortably. That seemed like a sign to me. "Shut it."

"Ooh, defensive. I'm sorry, did I touch a nerve?"

"I said shut it worm."

I waved it off, being in that sort of mood. "Look, I have a proposition for you."

"Not interested."

'_You will be in a minute.' _I held up my hands. "All right. Fine. I won't tell you where Bastila is then."

There was an odd clunk sound, like they'd almost fallen over (armour clattering against the wall and everything) and I couldn't help the smug grin that came to my face. Time to press the point home. "I mean, it's not like that would be beneficial or anything. I should just shut up like a good little prisoner. Silly me for even suggesting anything."

"What did you just say?"

"Hm? Silly me for suggesting any..."

They interrupted me before I could even finish."The other bit."

"I won't tell you where Bastila is?" _'Technically I can't, cause I actually don't know where Miss High and Mighty is right now, but it's not like I'm __**actually**__ going to tell them anything anyway...' _"That bit?"

"Yes." The word sounded more like an exasperated hiss out of the helmet's filter then anything, so it seemed time to dampen down the stupidity for the sake of not pissing her off too much. Too much could get the crap beaten out of me, and that's not what I wanted in the slightest.

"Oh, so we're interested now, are we?" But it didn't mean I couldn't play up acting coy, I needed to lure this one in good if my plan was going to work. "Minute someone speaks the holy word and it's all ears?" I examined my nails. "Just how important is this bloody woman anyway?"

"Just what do you know?" Right, ignore my question then. Doesn't matter to me, because I pretty much already know.

I looked up, seeing that she'd wandered over. I was going to have to get used to the fact I was conversing with my own gender here, even under a layer or so of armour. "Depends."

"On what?"

"On what you're willing to pay for it."

Her helmeted head turned slightly one way, and then the other. I figured she was checking out the room. T3 was still carrying out his business in one of the corners.

"Hm." If I could see her face, I could almost imagine the Sith woman smirking. "Always a price, isn't there?"

"No shit, Sherlock. It's called life, and we've all gotta make a killing outta this war. And information is a much less messy business then being a sword for hire." _'Not that I'd be much good at one of those.' _"But I'd much rather organise my terms for this lovely little tid-bit of information without a force field buzzing in my face. Let me out of this here cage and we can get down to the business of my payment and pointing you peeps in the right direction." _'Yeah, the other side of the planet.'_

I sent a discreet wink T3's way, and if the little droid was as smart as I thought he was, he'd catch on.

"So how about it sweetie?"

"How do I know you won't try anything?"

I held my arms out as wide as I possibly could without frying my hands in the force field. "Look at me. Do you honestly believe I can take on a powerful Sith soldier like yourself?"

'_Stroke that ego...let's hope this works, otherwise I'm really, really screwed.'_

"Which is worth more to you: standing around watching my sorry arse in this here cell all day with no perks or acquiring a particularly juicy piece of info that could bump you up a notch? Your choice honey." Of course, it wasn't like I was _actually_ going to tell them shit about Bastila or the others. Just what kind of person do you think I am? Geez.

"Droid." The soldier barked at T3 and I thought I heard what sounded like an annoyed (yet still responsive) whistle from the little droid. Hm, I wouldn't like these guys either if all they did was call me "human" all the time. So demeaning.

'_Guess that means it's me over the demeaning Sith in a pinch little guy? I bloody well hope so.'_

"Get this field down now. I don't have all day."

They get T3 to unlock these things? The Sith really are a lazy bunch of no good arseholes. This makes my laziness look like an afternoon spring cleaning. And that was one weird analogy.

After a couple of beeps in response, T3 rolled over to the control console near my cell, and logged in with the help of a couple little attachments from his chassis. The evil force field fizzled out of existence about a minute later, leaving me standing there blinking rather stupidly. This actually worked? Wow, they must be more desperate to find Bastila then I thought. I should lie about this stuff more often.

"All right, now start talking." The Sith said, having a tight grip on the blaster rifle in her hands. "And no sudden moves."

"Rightio. Don't get your panties in a knot sweetheart." I gingerly stepped just out of my cage, half-expecting them to activate the field again on me, before taking advantage of the situation. "You know I really wish you actually were a guy..."

"What?"

"...cause this would hurt more." And I kicked her in the crotch. Now, you may be wondering on the pointlessness of such an endeavour, considering I'm kicking a girl there. You'd be wrong. Just because we don't have anything hanging around like guys, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when someone kicks you there. I should know, someone did it to me once and a blow to the crotch (jeans zip included) can be painful. Not to mention sudden and unexpected, which really was what I was counting on.

"Why you little..."

"Save your breath darling, you really should have seen this coming."

Sparks flew out from one of T3's little attachments, shocking the Sith soldier before she even knew what hit her and I finished her off with a solid clonk to the head. I'm guessing in those last moments of consciousness she was severely cursing her sense of judgement. Eh, I could care less.

"Seems I'm making a habit out of knocking out Sith soldiers...though I doubt its winning me any friends." I muttered, searching her body for anything useful. I still had to find the stuff they'd confiscated off me after all. The soldier had very little, but the key card for the prison door would come in handy, yes indeed.

"By the way, I appreciate the help little buddy." I said to T3, looking up from the body at the droid. "I didn't know what I was going to do if that plan didn't work."

He whistled something in comment.

"I'm guessing you got a name, unless they neglect to do so with utility droids or something." _'Gotta keep up the act honey.'_

Another whistle, almost like a direction, and I leant closer, noticing something etched into his bodywork.

"T3...M4. Ah, so you're T3-M4 then." _'So I had the right droid after all.'_ I straightened, hanging on to the key I'd found on the Sith soldier's body. "Mind if I call you T3 for short?"

An affirmative couple of beeps came from the little droid.

"All righty then. Well, T3, I'm Jess." I looked around the room, noticing a couple of doors. One had to be the exit, with another possible storage, for all the stuff they take off prisoners. Though why they'd have it in the same room was beyond me, wouldn't that just aid an escape? Then again, it was probably for convenience. Man Sith are lazy...The door the Sith soldier now lying unconscious at my feet had been standing near had to be the exit, so the other two must lead into something else. With that in mind, I wandered over to one of them and waved my hand in front of it. Nothing happened. Frowning, I tried again. Same result. Leaning close to the mechanism in the middle, I then noticed a tiny little red lock symbol, and immediately felt stupid. Of course they'd lock the doors in here, lest a prisoner **did** escape. And since the key card that I had was only for the exit door, this might be a problem...

"T3?"

He beeped an affirmative.

"What can you make of this?" Great, I'm discussing locked doors with a droid who can't even speak English. That's about as sane as admitting to the voices in my head.

The little droid rolled over, gently bumping me out the way and after a moment's inspection, cracked the lock and the door hissed open. I blinked stupidly at the opening, wondering where in "What can you make of this?" was "Open this for me please", before deciding not to bother about it. The door was open after all.

'_Right, now where did the bloody Sith stick my stuff?'_ At least I didn't have to bother about armour, seeing as I was still wearing it. Guess they didn't try to strip it off after all, so no unconscious gropings by Sith for me I guess. That would have been life scaring.

"Ah ha!"

Sitting snugly in about the third footlocker I cracked open, were my sheathed sword and blaster. Along with my bag funnily enough. Hopefully they didn't root through that. My bra in Sith possession was the **last** thing I wanted, especially since I wasn't going to running around in these bindings forever. Opening my bag, I checked that during my brief stay in the cell (thank idiotic Sith soldier for that one) no one had pilfered any of my things from home. Rings and wristbands. Check. Good, I happened to have gotten one of those rings for my 18th thank you very much. Clothes, boots and my belt. Check, thank God. Mp3. Check and hidden with my phone underneath my jeans too, so I guess that's a double check.

'_Good, that's everything. Although I have the sneaking suspicion the Sith have been playing around with my Mp3 and phone...'_ Well, I'll think about that one later, I had better things to be doing. Like say, getting as far away from here as possible?

All suited up, with my sword at my hip and blaster in hand, I looked determinedly towards the exit.

"Now it's time to get the hell outta here."

**-()-**

Escaping, in theory, is easy. You just have to break out, find the exit and leg it before anyone manages to catch you and shove you back in. In practice, it's a lot harder. Especially when you're me, stuck inside a base full of trained soldiers, who'd shoot first and then ask questions later. If it weren't for T3, I'm almost certain I'd either be dead, or back in my cell by now. And then I'd really be dead when Malak blew the planet to smithereens. I was just hoping there wasn't a Dark Jedi or two lurking around here somewhere, otherwise I really was a dead woman walking. And before you start thinking I'm a total selfish bitch, I did happen to let that Duros guy out before legging it out of the prison.

I squished back against a wall as a group of Sith soldiers ran down the intersecting corridor, before peering around the corner to check that they'd gone. Signalling to T3, the two of us ran/rolled down it in the opposite direction to the troops. No way was I aiming to run into those guys any time soon.

'_Where the hell is this bloody exit?'_

My leaving the prison block appeared to have triggered a dozen or so alarms, which had soldiers scrambling all over the place. Luck had held up this intrepid little duo so far, T3 and I managing to avoid most of them, or taking out small groups we ran into, either directly, or through him hacking into the system and giving them some nasty surprises.

"I say, next console we find, we look for a darn map, hey?" I muttered, partly to myself and partly to T3.

The whistle that came from him sounded almost sing song and I could almost guess just what the smart-alecy droid was saying. Screw translators, my gut had been pretty spot on with the little guy's way of talking so far. Better then how I fared with Zaalbar at least.

"Yeah well, I didn't think of it back there. I was thinking more about not getting my arse handed to me, winding up dead, or back in that stupid prison."

Narrowly avoiding another troop load of Sith soldiers by ducking through into an empty room, the hallway we were following then turned into a fork with two doors at each end. Hm, decisions, decisions.

"Let's see what's behind door number two, shall we?"

'_You're practically talking to yourself...'_

Sighing at my internal monologue, I walked over to the second door and waved it open. Turns out that was about the **worst** choice I'd made so far. Apart from putting back on this blasted red shirt of mine which got me into this mess in the first place, of course.

I bit my lip, eyes wide. Behind the door was...an entire platoon of Sith soldiers. All. Staring. Right. At. Me.

"Crap." I squeaked, legs shaking. Outnumbered and outgunned to the point of insanity. I was so fucked.

"Well, look what we have here boys." A red armoured Sith soldier said. Wait, they're the higher ranked one aren't they? Way to stick out in a crowd boyo. He might as well have a giant bullseye painted on him.

'_Come on, come on...think of something...'_

"Looks like someone's taken a wrong turn. How unfortunate for them." And that so isn't sarcasm, Red.

'_Doesn't matter how stupid it is, just think of something to get you out of this!'_

"Uh...don't look now it's a Mandalorian crack whore!" I blurted out, pointing behind them.

Contrary to what I expected, Mr Red Armour and many of his fellows (the ones that could see what I was doing, the others mashed up behind them with like no visibility), turned around and actually looked. Seems Mission really was right...these guys **are** stupid. Or maybe it's my flailing arms and look of questionable sanity that got them. Hard to tell really.

I took the opportunity fate had so kindly given me in their stupidity (or whatever) and legged it back out the door, before heading straight through the intersection the way I hadn't gone yet.

'_You know next time a fight comes, I should blurt out some random shit to confuse the crap out of all the bad guys and then leg it. At least until someone teaches me how to fight. That sounds like it should...'_

A blaster blot ricocheted above my head.

'_...work. Or not. Damn, there went that plan...'_

I bolted, getting my arse down the nearest corridor away from them as fast as I possibly could, T3 already way ahead of me. The platoon of Sith soldiers thundered down the corridor (at least that's what it sounded like) behind me. I didn't even think of ducking into any of the other doorways I zoomed past, more concerned with keeping my arse out of firing range.

Somewhere along the line I lost T3 for a moment, before rounding a corner to see him sitting in what appeared to be an elevator. He let out a high-pitched urgent whistle as I careened down the corridor towards him.

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Sheesh! You think I don't know how close behind me they are?" I nicked into the elevator just as the Sith soldiers rounded the corner, sending a hail of blaster bolts my way. Squishing behind the scant cover next to the control panel in the elevator, I hit what I hoped was the up button and the doors hissed closed. And just in time too, from the pounding I could hear above us. Wait...above?

'_I thought I hit up?'_

Leaning back, I checked the elevator controls, seeing what I guessed was the down button illuminated. '_Whoops, my bad.'_

At least it was away from the soldiers. Better than nothing. There was probably another elevator we could take on the next floor. At least I hoped so. With a huff, I slumped to the floor of the elevator, leaning against the wall. T3 beeped curiously at me.

"Don't worry buddy. Soon as I figure out where the darn elevator is leading us, I'll get us out. You'll see..." I stared at the floor. "You'll see..."

My insides were still twisting themselves into knots, wondering about where this left me in regards to the rest of the gang.

'_They're probably wondering just where the hell you've disappeared to. And then it won't be long until they put two and two together and figure it all out.' _I tapped my fingers against my leg. _'But...shit, without T3 you had no hope in hell at getting into the base and considering I'm sitting with the little guy in an elevator __**inside**__ the base right now, there goes that idea...'_

"Fuck!" I swore out loud, pounding my fist on the floor of the elevator. "Why do I always have to screw things up?"

T3 squeaked (or the droid equivalent of a squeak) at my sudden outburst.

"Aw, sorry buddy." I apologised. "I'm just...a little stressed out right now."

A whistle/beep combination which I guessed was sympathetic. Although compared to understanding Zaalbar, I wasn't doing too badly with all this droid speak. Then again, I swear anything Zaalbar said all sounded practically the same, whereas with T3 the tone of his beeping and etc let me get some idea of what the little guy was saying. At least that's my theory...

The elevator ground to a halt, and I scrambled out of sight as the doors hissed open, blaster in hand. After waiting a few seconds, I poked my head out to take a look outside. Nothing, no sign of any Sith soldiers, just an empty corridor leading to another door.

"Hm, maybe the prison cells were on a higher level than I thought. This may just be the way out." Of course, I'd still have to bargain my way past the receptionist, but that should be a piece of cake compared to everything else I've just been through.

"Looks like we've made it little buddy." I said to T3 as we made our way down the corridor, the only sounds down here around us being the clunk of my feet against the floor and his gears as he rolled along beside me. He let out a low whistle that echoed around us and a shiver went down my spine. It was just too eerily quiet and a niggling in the back of my head seemed to be whispering that things were way too easy.

"_Maybe you'd do well to listen to such instincts."_

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. Too much stress in the past few days, no wonder I was hearing things. Including what sounded like a sigh echoing within my brain.

"_Denial once again. It seems someone needs another wake up call."_

The two of us reached the door, and after taking a moment to prepare for whatever might be on the other side (including about a million excuses if it just so happened to be the receptionist), I waved one hand in front of it, wondering if it'd be locked or not. The door opened with a quiet hiss.

I braced myself, blaster pointed forward, for another platoon of soldiers like last time and got...nothing. Oh wait, one guy, kneeling in the centre of the room. Bald too. What is it with Malak's cronies and copying his haircut (or lack of one)? No silver uniform so he isn't a soldier. Officer? If so, little ol' Miss Mostly Incompetent (even I'll admit that) just scored.

Sneaking up, I set my blaster square against the back of his head, one finger hovering a hair off the trigger, ready to fire when necessary.

'_I'm getting better at this shit all the time.'_

"No sudden moves." I hissed. "Now you're gonna tell me where the fuck the darn exit is, or I pull this here trigger and your brains get fried." I dug the muzzle of my blaster in for emphasis. "Ooh and while you're at it, might as well give me those codes for getting off world too."

"Ah, so you must be the prisoner running that botched escape attempt." He said, in that annoying overly superior tone the Sith had that I really, really hated. Seriously, do you guys all have to sound the same? Bunch of overconfident jackasses the lot of you.

'_Botched? Oh that's it...it's on like Donkey Kong brother.'_

"Cut the crap, and start listening boyo, or I'm gonna fuck you up so bad you'll...you'll..." I stopped mid-sentence, watching my blaster slip free of my hand all on its own, only to be thrown away out of reach.

'_Shit! I forgot there was a guy around here that's a Dark Jedi in training and not just your average foot soldier or officer! Damn bad luck!'_

He smirked. "You'll what? I'm sorry, I missed the rest of your sentence."

I stared at my empty hand, eyes the size of pool balls. Well, not literally, but figuratively they were open pretty darn wide.

'_Shit, shit, shit, shit...I am __**so**__ dead right now...'_

"_In front of you!"_

Next thing I knew (after the warning of course) was the Dark Jedi apprentice kicking my feet out from under me and swinging that double bladed sword my way. The edge of the blade nicked my arm and once I hit the ground, it came again, point first. I did the best thing in such a situation: rolled the fuck outta the way. And kept rolling as it came slicing down at me, again and again.

'_Keep rolling, keep rolling, keep rolling and...'_

"_Kick, now!"_

'_...wait, what?'_

My leg kicked out on its own, hitting the apprentice in the stomach, giving me enough time as he staggered back to scramble up and sprint for the door. Of course, it would have worked better if my feet hadn't suddenly come out from under me and I was sent crashing to the ground for a second time, much like at the swoop track with Bastila. Only she hadn't been trying to kill me...

T3 whistled sharply, and let loose a burst of flame towards the Dark Jedi, buying me enough time to scramble back up onto my feet and unsheathe my sword. If my crash landing was anything to go by, running away wasn't an option.

'_I'm just gonna have to get myself killed trying to fight this guy instead. Wonderful.'_

The Sith apprentice (or whatever the hell he actually was) pulled off that ridiculous cloak he'd been wearing which had caught fire from T3's attack and Force pushed the poor little guy to crash into the wall. Seeing an opening, I charged at him with sword raised, hoping to take advantage of his distraction. He whirled around at the last second and my blade collided with his with a loud clang, shockwaves going right up my arms.

'_Gah!'_

The breath was knocked out of me as his kick connected with my stomach and if it wasn't for another intervention from T3 I probably would have gotten a double-bladed sword to the face. He zapped the Sith apprentice with his shock attachment like he had the soldier back in the prison, taking him off guard and giving me the opportunity to recover and launch a counterattack.

'_Thanks little guy, I owe ya one.'_

Going for a different approach, I swung my sword in a horizontal arc (as opposed to vertical like previous) towards the Sith, nicking him on the side before he bounced my blade off his, taking me off balance. His blade whistled over my head as I just ducked in time (I swear I saw a lock of my hair fall to the floor though) and charged forward, intent on crash tackling him to the ground. Of course, being about half his size and about a fraction of his strength, my attempts didn't go as well as I'd planned. Aka knocking him back, but practically crunching into him in the same instance.

'_Crap!'_

He grabbed me around the middle and hoisted me up into the air, throwing me back over his shoulder on a collision course with the ground.

'_Double crap.'_

I was certain I was about to crumple straight onto the ground, when my body suddenly twisted in mid-air without me really attempting to do so, and I landed steadily on my feet after that lovely little 360. Considering aerial acrobatics seemed out of my reach well, since forever, this was very surprising.

'_What the fuck?'_

"_Now __**that**__ was a close one..."_

Ponder that random moment I would have to do at a lot less life threatening time. Especially with that double-bladed sword swinging my way again.

'_Shit!'_

I narrowly dodged the swing, though my left shoulder (okay more above where my left breast should be) not so much as it tore through flesh, taking advantage of a gap in some armour plating there.

'_That'll probably scar...'_

My blade swung up just in time to clumsily deflect his next blow, but it was close. I was about half his size, strength and experience so no wonder. He whirled the blades around, managing to somehow deflect a shot from T3 off the flat of the blade at one end and I ducked again as it came my way. Slashing my sword out, it missed entirely as he spun out the way, before his blade ripped through my side and when I say ripped, I mean it. The worst part was I could feel every second of it slicing through my flesh, tearing a great gash in my side. Oh, and ruining that part of my armour.

I hit the ground, my side feeling like it was almost on fire and my sword clattering to the ground out of reach.

'_Damn it! I knew this was a bad idea!'_

I could hear him walking over, deliberately slow, as I started crawling for my weapon, one hand clutching at my side. I'm certain I could feel blood staining my fingers, so I kept the hand there in an attempt to keep pressure against the wound to slow the bleeding. My heart pounded my ears. Almost to the same rhythm as his footsteps.

All of a sudden I could barely breathe, my chest tight like invisible hands had a hold of my lungs and were slowly crushing them. Force Grip...should have seen that one coming a mile off, he's a wannabe Sith after all...

He clucked his tongue, smiling sadistically. "Perhaps you should have stayed in your cell little girl."

T3 tried to come to my rescue once again, shooting at the Sith apprentice with his in-built blaster only to be tossed across the room with the Force for a second time. The scraping of metal on metal was particularly bad on the ears. I was left breathless as the crushing grip sensation left me and I tried to move away again. A cry of pain left my lips as all my injuries hit me at once, leaving me gasping weak breaths on the floor. A shadow loomed over me and I looked up into the smirking face of the Sith apprentice, double-bladed sword held snugly in his left hand.

'_So this is how it ends then...killed by a mini-boss from a video game...and a lefty at that...'_

And then, a low voice, thick with malice, in the back of my head. _"Not if I have anything to say about it."_

My hands clutched my head, what felt like needles jabbing through my skull. Darkness at the edges of my vision, making it hard to see anything. I saw the Sith apprentice pause, an odd look flickering across his face as if he felt...something different. I kept blinking, trying to see through the dark fog filtering in but it was near impossible. The last thing I remember seeing before the darkness swooped in and overcame my senses was the Sith apprentice raising his blade for the killing blow. I suppose it was for the best.

He was going to kill me after all.

There was a clang as his blade hit the metal floor, and a frustrated look came to his face at the near miss. Metal scraped across metal, the unmistakable sound of someone picking up a sword, pale fingers curling around the handle to hold it backwards.

"So..." A voice then, dark with a hint of mockery. "...where will you go..."Thin red lips curved into a hardly sane grin that chilled even him to the bone. "...when I will murder you so?"

T3 let out a low, concerned whistle. That didn't sound like the person he'd just been travelling with. That sounded like...someone else...

**-()-**

"Ouch my freaking head. Did I go crazy on the booze in the Upper City cantina and imagine the whole incarceration thing?" I blinked several times, trying to clear my vision. The beeping of a droid got my attention, and a blurry image of T3 moved into my line of sight. Obviously I was lying on my side on a cold metal floor, my body aching like I'd just been run over by a truck only for it to hit reverse and run me over again.

"I guess not." I tried to stand, only for pain to tear through my side, sending me crashing back to my knees swearing.

"Aw fuuuuuuuck..."

"_Stand up you idiot!"_

"Can't...hurts...too much."

"_If you don't stand, you'll die here."_

"I'm gonna die anyway, with this great hole in my side..."Something must seriously be wrong with me. I was talking back to the voices in my head. Well, actually voice.

"I am majorly fucked up." I muttered to myself.

"_That is beside the point. Now __**move**__."_

T3 whistled/beeped something at me, gently bumping into my uninjured side. Seems even the droid wanted me to get my arse moving.

"All right, all right. I'm going." With a pained groan, I forced myself upright, swaying a little on my feet as I waited for the room to refocus.

'_Fuck...I __**seriously**__ had my arse kicked back there. Right, now where's my sword?'_

Another urgent whistle from T3.  
"Yeah, yeah. Just wait a second, I just wanna find my...**whoa**." I blinked again, taking in the sight of the bloody corpse lying scant feet from me. The bloody corpse of the Dark Jedi guy that had almost killed me earlier to be precise.

"How the...on second thought, I don't wanna know." Stumbling forward, my foot knocked something metallic on the floor and I looked down to see what it was.

'_Oh hey, that's where it was...hold on, is that...blood?' _I blinked stupidly again, staring at my sword (something I'd only used twice in this whole adventure so far). Correction, my bloodstained sword. As in bloodstained from seriously mutilating someone sword. As in...

'_No fucking way.'_

My migraine returned and I clutched my head in pain. With one hand, seeing as the other was occupied with my side. To make matters worse, the darn thing was deciding to centre itself around my eyebrow and Lord only knows how much I hate those kinds of headaches.

"I think it's time I got the hell out of here."

T3 beeped something in the affirmative, and after sheathing my bloody sword and stumbling over to pick up my blaster, the two of us made our way back to the elevator.

"Let's hope we pick the right floor this time, hey buddy?"

A string of whistles and beeps from T3.

"That was so **not** my fault. They should learn to mark their elevator buttons."

**-()-**

The ride up, in comparison to the ride down, was a nightmare. Not only was I practically bleeding all over the floor (okay that may be a slight exaggeration) but I could barely stay standing. My legs felt like they would give out from under me at any second, so I spent most of the trip up leaning against the wall just to stay upright. Not to mention the room would go blurry on me enough I had to blink occasionally to refocus. If I live through this...well, I've certainly achieved something.

T3 gave a low whistle of concern.

"I'll...I'll be fine once we get out of here." I said, hoping to console the little droid. "Don't you worry."

'_I think I'm more saying that to myself then T3.'_

The elevator doors hissed open and I got myself moving, making my way out with my blaster out at the ready. Not that I would probably amount to much, now wielding it in my left hand. Not a good plan if you're right handed and your left positively sucks at doing anything practical. If only my right hand wasn't preoccupied with keeping pressure against my injured side...

"Hold it right there." A female voice said. "Take one more step and I'll set off the alarm."

"Hate ta break it to you lady." I replied, noticing it was the receptionist. "But I'm pretty sure the alarm is already going. Back there at least."

Her arm stayed where it was, hand hovering threateningly over the alarm button.

I pointed my blaster at the receptionist, hand shaking so badly I could barely keep it straight. "Face it lady, we can do it this way, or we can do it the nice way where we both get to live." _'As long as that may be for me.'_ "I really don't want to do this, but if you don't co-operate, I'll have no choice."

She flipped a switch under her desk, and the door hissed open. "Just go...please...please don't hurt me..."

I lowered my blaster slowly. "Just get the hell out, this place is probably going to go crazy with all the crap that's happened."

"_Understatement and a delayed one at that. It has already gone crazy."_

She nodded mutely, running out through the door. I motioned towards T3 to get moving, holstering my blaster and the two of us headed for the door. Staggered in my case.

I decided heading back to the apartment would be my best bet for help, having no idea where a doctor or anything was in this place. Making it back there was going to be difficult in my current state, but it was try or die, and I wasn't about to sit around and let the latter happen.

The trip out was basically a blur of metal pathway, a mash of faces of people trying to have nothing to do with me, people not even **trying** to help me (complacent arseholes the lot of them), buildings that all looked the same and a little utility droid gently running into me every now and then to keep me going. If it wasn't for T3 I don't know that I'd have kept walking long enough to even make it anyway near the apartment where Allegra, Carth and the others could be. Yes, could be. See in my little journey this way, I'd realised a very important fact: I didn't even know if they would be there. Between Allegra's plan to meet in the cantina and my disappearance, they could be anywhere but in the base of operations (as I was so calling it). Sadly, that was my best bet for somewhere to go, being safe and as far away from the Sith base as possible. Reaching the apartment seemed to be the extent of my stamina however, as I leant against one of the metal walls inside the inner ring of the complex, not sure if I could walk another step and live. T3 bumped against the back of my legs gently again (I'd lost count of how many times he'd had to prod me along), letting out a concerned whistle.

"I know...gotta...gotta keep moving...almost..." I barely moved off the wall, vision cloudy even after I blinked several times to clear it. "Almost...Allegra...Carth...they'll help..." My legs gave out and I collapsed to my knees. _'I'm surprised I got this far...guess now is when I kick the bucket...'_

"I am telling you Carth, that woman...there are no words to describe that attitude of hers. If it keeps up for much longer I'm going to take a leaf out of Jess's book and slap her. And then where would that leave us?"

"Look, just ignore Bastila for now. We need to find a way off this planet before we all get discovered by the Sith."

"I'm not doing anything until we find Jess."

Carth sighed. "I'm with you on finding the kid Allegra, but we've got to think about the bigger picture too. What the Mandalorian suggested..."

"...sounds like it could get us killed. They're like that. Putting our necks on the line instead of his own to get those codes, that's exactly what the plan is."

"Bastila seems to think his offer for help is genuine."

She snorted. "Listening to the insights of a woman who probably has barely set foot out of that bloody Jedi Academy of hers, theirs, whatever, and experienced what real life is like doesn't seem all that safe in my book." She sighed. "I just don't know Carth. It seems too easy, and perhaps...perhaps I'm just paranoid. Never really trusted Mandalorians since...well, a long time ago. You understand that right?"

"I do. Normally I'd be wary too, but this seems like our best bet for getting off world and that's the important bit. Although since they lost that droid to the Sith, we're going to have to find another way in."

"I know, I know. I just want to know where that damn girl wandered off to first, before I think of running off without her. It just wouldn't be fair after all she's tried to do to help us."

Carth chuckled. "I noticed you added tried in there."

"Her heart's in the right place even if she isn't up to speed in combat. All she needs is some proper training."

I only realised the two of them rounded the corner when I heard someone gasp, probably Allegra as I doubt Carth is the gasping type.

"Jess!"

"Speak of the devil..."

I looked up, seeing Allegra run over, followed closely by Carth. "Hey guys...long time...no see..." I said weakly, managing an equally weak smile.

"What the hell happened to you?" She said, noticing just how half-dead I looked.

"Looong...story..." I quipped. T3 beeped then, drawing Allegra's attention.

"And just where did you get this droid?"

T3 whistled sharply, obviously a little hurt at being called "this droid".

"Can we...leave the questions...till after I'm...not in danger of dying?"

She nodded and turned to Onasi. "Carth, you go ahead and alert Bastila of the situation. It's about time we put those Jedi powers of hers to a practical use."

Carth nodded and rushed off in the direction they'd just come from, headed back to the apartment. Allegra helped me to my feet and slung one of my arms over her shoulders, supporting my weight against her. The two of us then headed after him, albeit at a slightly slower pace. By the time we made it into the apartment, Mission was rushing up to the two of us quicker than you could say...uh, "heavens ta Betsy"? I'm half-dead here not to mention I'm running out of odd metaphors and nonsensical analogies to use. Maybe when I'm patched up my brain will kick back into gear.

"What happened to her? She looks half-dead!" Mission said, before looking very concerned. "She'll...she'll be okay...right?"

If I had the energy to answer, I would have, but as it stood I didn't. Allegra didn't seem keen on answering her either, having no idea what to say.

'_Ha, I've left Revan lost for words...'_

Carth then appeared, with Bastila at his heels. "One Jedi as requested."

Allegra nodded her approval. "I think she can guess just what the fuss is all about."

Bastila took one look at me hanging off Allegra's arm and pursed her lips, what passed as concern in those grey eyes of hers, and then gestured towards the table (nearest flat surface). "Set her down over there. We haven't much time."

If I wasn't at risk of dying of blood loss or something equally wonderful, I probably would have made some stupid remark about how I have to get a great slash in my side for her to care. As it was, no such remark was forthcoming.

Allegra nodded again and with some effort, I stumbled alongside her towards the table, Bastila already ahead of us. We'd just reached it when my legs gave out and I tumbled forward. The floor no doubt would have been my landing spot if it weren't for one thing in the way. Namely one particular Jedi...

Upon my awkward landing, I promptly passed out...with my face buried in Bastila's cleavage.

Oh the irony...

**-()-**

**Some Random: Oh the irony indeed. From slapping her to passing out in her bosom, what will I get up to next? *grins* That's for me to know and you to find out...hence why you're reading this. *sweat drops* And yes, I will stop paying out Bastila and being a complete pain in the arse to her, well, at least I won't be a complete pain. We're still gonna argue and stuff, cause I can see that being unavoidable. The scene in the Sith base should certainly be a big hint to just what's going on to you guys and I have a pretty good scene in mind for the actual revelation, hence why I'm still playing oblivious. Rational explanations and all that. Mission's getting curious though. By the way, sorry if it's like taking forever to get through Taris. If you're wondering why there's a song in the disclaimer, that's because someone's lines in here are practically a direct quote from that song. I'd say a digital cookie to the person that figures out which bit, but it's pretty hard to find and you'd certainly have to listen to the song first.**

**Anyway, once again thank you to everyone that's reviewed and I'll try and update with chapter 8 as soon as I can. *Starts dancing to Within Temptation***

**Next: Time ta meet the Taris Mafia...**


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